What does the disposal of single-use face masks mean for the environment?
In August 2020, it was estimated that 194 billion disposable masks and gloves are being used (and inevitably disposed of) every month, globally. It was also estimated that if historical indicators are accurate, 75% of these disposable, single-use masks will end up in landfills or floating in the sea (UN News, 2020). These plastic protective masks that end up at sea could take up to 450 years to fully decompose and leave the marine ecosystem, according to Waste Free Oceans. So as COVID-19 waste (including protective masks, gloves and other PPE) surges, further worries about environmental damage beyond repair — in this case caused largely by plastic pollution — continue to grow.
There is perhaps a socio-cultural aspect to this that we can consider. Attitudes towards PPE disposal, particularly masks and gloves, differ globally. Despite face masks being commonplace for some time in many Asian countries like China and Japan, since the pandemic, sales of disposable face coverings have boomed worldwide. The rise in usage and subsequent disposal contributes to a worrying increase in single-use plastic waste. The WWF says: “If only 1% of the world’s face masks are disposed of incorrectly, 10 million masks will still end up polluting fragile ecosystems every month. Considering that the weight of each mask is about 4 grams this would entail the dispersion of over 40 thousand kilograms of plastic in nature’.
At Benassie, we are putting our efforts into thinking about how we can be more conscious of the way we interact with contemporary matters of waste and its impacts on the environment. With the current global pandemic, face masks are of huge importance to us as we know they will not be a momentary ‘trend’. Disposable, single-use face masks are no longer a viable option for the world’s citizens to be using on a day-to-day basis considering the environmental impacts they are and will be having. This has informed our decision to delay our original plans activewear product line, and instead, put our efforts alongside our technological and athleisure garment knowledge towards producing eco-friendly, sustainable, and ethically made face masks for the world. Not only are they environmentally conscious, allowing our wearers to be guilt-free of producing even more waste than ever before, but are also pioneering ViralOff® technology by Polygiene, and as a result, eliminate 99.8% COVID-19 when being worn. The technology that we use is the first and only antiviral treatment of its kind. There’s more about this here.
If you are in a position to think about what you can do to help reduce plastic pollution — currently actively caused by COVID-19 mask and glove disposal — our ViralOff® face masks are one way which you can be more of an active, conscious consumer. We see this global pandemic as a chance to reflect not only on the current surges in waste and its environmental impact, but also, more importantly, the bigger state of plastic in the environment, with as much as 13 million tonnes of plastic going into the oceans each year.
