“If governments require the use of face masks, they must also provide sufficient information about cleaning them up.”

That’s what researcher Keiron Roberts says in an interview with Scientias.nl. His study has shown that since the corona crisis, face masks, plastic gloves and other protective equipment have been lying around everywhere on the street. It seems that pandemic waste has become the new litter. And we better do something about that right away.

9000 percent increase

In the study the researchers analyzed two million pieces of litter collected in eleven countries that had taken corona measures. And that leads to the discovery that the number of mouth masks that end up in the environment left or right has increased by no less than 9,000 percent between March and October 2020. “We discovered an exponential increase in the number of discarded face masks since March 2020,” says Roberts. “This resulted in an 84-fold increase in October 2020.”

Background

Roberts explains the background to the investigation. “The negative effects of COVID-19 on our daily lives are well known,” he says. “In April 2020, it started to look like there were also some small positives in the decline in human activity due to lockdowns. Think of the improved air and water quality.” Because there were fewer people on the street, wild animals also seized their chance. For example, a puma was spotted roaming the streets of Santiago, deer visited an abandoned Japanese theme park and dolphins appeared in the calm waters in the port of the Italian city of Trieste. “At the same time, there were reports of masks and plastic gloves showing up on beaches and streets, places they hadn’t seen before,” Roberts continues. “As COVID-19 spread, so did these news stories about this new type of litter.”

Lying around mouth caps

According to the researcher, it is not very surprising in itself that mouth caps lying around have started to change the street scene. “In the countries surveyed, we noticed a significant increase in street-discarded face masks when they were mandated by governments,” he says. “What surprised us, however, was the amount.”

Accumulation of pandemic waste
Researchers have previously discovered that more than 8 million tons of pandemic plastic waste has been generated worldwide. The worrying part is that a large part ends up in the ocean. For example, the findings show that more than 25,000 tons of plastic are making their way into already polluted oceans. Within three to four years, a significant portion of this is expected to wash up on beaches or sink to the seabed. A smaller portion will end up in the open ocean and accumulate in the Arctic Ocean.

The accumulation of all these lying face masks and other protective equipment is now threatening to become a serious environmental problem. “Not only is it an eyesore, animals can get entangled in it,” Roberts explains. “In addition, some animals eat it, which is very harmful, or even choke on it. Incidentally, it can also suffocate smaller organisms and plants. In the long run, face masks made of plastic materials can persist in the environment for years. They then decompose into microplastics and re-enter the food chain.”

This is how it finds its way into nature

The question is, of course, how all those mouth caps end up in nature. “We suspect that this is a combination of several factors,” Roberts says when asked. “Think, for example, of accidentally dropping it (for example because it falls out of your pocket or blows out your car window), falling garbage cans or because it is deliberately thrown away in nature, to name a few examples. Some studies have shown that especially in areas with a lot of foot traffic, such as in shopping streets, the sidewalks are strewn with face masks.”

Tidy

According to the researcher, this is partly the fault of governments. Because despite the fact that millions of people were obliged to wear face masks, little advice was given about how to dispose of them safely and responsibly. “If governments require the use of face masks, they should also provide adequate information about how to clean them up,” says Roberts. “They must also ensure the availability of facilities, such as extra waste bins, to help people dispose of the litter correctly.” At the same time, he also points out the responsibility of all of us. “This environmental problem is caused by our behavior during the pandemic,” he says. “We can solve most of the pandemic waste lying around by collecting it responsibly. Please dispose of it in a normal waste bin.”

According to Roberts, we must prevent pandemic waste from becoming a lasting legacy. “New policy must contain structured advice,” he believes. “And, more importantly, the infrastructure needs to be adapted to better dispose of the waste.”