Disposable masks that are meant to protect us from the coronavirus are becoming an impending environmental threat because of the increased trash they create in landfills.
According to an Oct. 28 article by News4 Nashville, a Nashville news outlet, 62,210 personal protective equipment items, including single-use masks and gloves, were collected during an annual International Coastal Cleanup event.
In September, the event involves participants from dozens of countries who remove and log a sample volume of plastics and marine waste from the ocean and waterways.
The trash build-up is an indication that disposable protective equipment, such as masks and gloves are adding to the municipal solid waste produced worldwide.
According to an Oct. 24 article by NBC 7 San Diego, municipal solid waste is the garbage produced by households and can include packaging, grass clippings, bottles and newspapers.
Material that is recovered from the waste stream can be recycled and composted, but the remainder will end up in a landfill.
About 2.2 billion tons of municipal solid waste is generated annually, but at least 33% of that is not managed so that it’s environmentally safe, according to The World Bank, an international financial institution.
Waste created during the pandemic, such as disposable face masks and gloves, will add to the solid waste produced globally, thereby creating an environmental disaster.
According to a Nov. 6 article on Euronews.com, a pan-European news network, “If waste is not properly thrown into a rubbish bin, but on the road or the pavement, it will typically fall into a gutter, mix with rainwater and be washed out into a river or the sea.”
Personal protective equipment waste is not only littered in neighborhoods but has made it into bodies of water, posing a huge threat to birds, animals and marine life, according to a June 8 article by The Guardian.
In the same article, conservationists warned that the coronavirus pandemic could spark a surge in ocean pollution, adding to plastic waste that already threatens marine life, after finding disposable masks floating like jellyfish and waterlogged latex gloves scattered
across seabeds.
One way to reduce the waste produced is by using reusable masks.
The public isn’t exposed to the danger of the coronavirus as often as doctors, so non-medical professionals should feel safe using sustainable cloth masks.
Homemade and even store-bought masks made out of double-layered fabric scraps or old clothing are a great substitute and don’t end up in landfills or in gutters as often.
According to a March 28 article by The Washington Post, “Masks don’t have to be complex to be effective.”
Homemade masks provide similar protection as disposable masks, according to a May 7 article published on Hartford HealthCare’s website, a Connecticut health care network. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommend people wear a cloth mask in public when social distancing.
According to a March 19 Washington Post article, hospitals with a shortage of N95 masks began using homemade cloth masks.
If cloth masks work well in a hospital, they should be adequate enough to be used by the general public.
Reusable masks help reduce everyday trash and are more affordable too. For people going out more than once a day, cloth masks are economical, while providing protection against the virus.
To alleviate the amount of disposable masks that are littered, countries should follow France’s example and introduce fines for improper
disposal of used face masks.
According to a July 20 article in The Hill, a news website, France introduced fines in July amounting to 135 euros, or $154, for mask violations such as not wearing masks in public spaces, like malls and grocery stores.
Cloth masks are also reusable and biodegradable, making them environmentally friendly.
Single-use medical masks contain harmful microplastic fibers, which when improperly disposed, end up in bodies of water around us causing damage to the environment and wildlife, according to an October Marine Pollution Bulletin published in the National Library of Medicine database.
Masks don’t have to be complicated or disposable to protect us from the coronavirus and a simple cloth mask can serve the purpose while still being eco-friendly.
