- 52 billion disposable face masks were produced in 2020 (including N95 respirators and surgical masks) alone
- It’s conservatively estimated that 1.6 billion of these masks ended up in our oceans
- This equates to roughly 5,500 tons of plastic pollution
Ironically, the political obedience symbol chosen by the hypocritically named Green Party (they are not ‘Green’), those useless disposable pieces of plastic fabric have taken a considerable toll on the environment.
During the height of Covidiocy it was estimated that Globally, 65 billion gloves were used every month and the tally for face nappies was nearly twice that—129 billion a month. That translates into 3 million face masks used per minute.
A separate study reported that 3.4 billion face masks or face “shields” were discarded every day. Asia was projected to throw away 1.8 billion face masks daily, the highest quantity of any continent globally. China, with the world’s largest population (1.4 billion) discarded nearly 702 million face masks daily.
All may be called disposable, because they’re cheap enough to be used once and then thrown away. But here’s the hitch: They don’t actually go away.
Disguised plastic
Face masks, gloves, and wipes are made from multiple plastic fibers, primarily polypropylene, that will remain in the environment for decades, possibly centuries, fragmenting into smaller and smaller microplastics and nanoplastics. A single face mask can release as many as 173,000 microfibers per day into the seas, according to a study in Environmental Advances.
“They’re not going anywhere,” says Nicholas Mallos, who oversees the Ocean Conservancy’s marine debris program.
Littered face masks and gloves are blown like tumbleweeds into rivers and streams, which carry them to the seas. Scientists have recorded their presence on South American beaches, river outlets in Jakarta Bay, in Bangladesh, on the coast of Kenya, and on the uninhabited Soko Islands in Hong Kong. Discarded PPE has clogged street drains from New York City to Nairobi, and has gummed up machinery in the municipal sewage system in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The stuff is affecting animals. The innovative common coot, a foot-tall, white-faced bird, has been observed in the Netherlands carrying face masks away to build nests—assuming its large, gangly feet don’t become entangled in the mask loops. That has happened, sometimes fatally, to swans, seagulls, peregrine falcons, and songbirds, according to a study in Animal Biology.