The world is emitting 3 million masks every minute, that mountain of garbage is becoming a ticking time bomb

Without a doubt, medical masks are definitely one of the symbols of the Covid-19 pandemic. Masks help people protect themselves and each other from pathogens, the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

But the flip side of masks, most of them are made of plastic. Disposable medical masks will therefore certainly become a post-pandemic environmental disaster. It is estimated that every month, the whole world is using and throwing away 129 billion masks. The number is equivalent to 3 million masks per minute.

. It is estimated that every month, the whole world is using and throwing away 129 billion masks.

Immediately after being discarded, masks will become a type of waste. They have been and are present in every corner of the world, from the sidewalks of the streets to the vast oceans.

Masks have been recorded drifting onto uninhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean. It puts on a coat over octopuses off the coast of France.

The rubber band caught turtles, birds and many animals. The fish may be eating the plastic strips sprung from the polyester fabric that is woven over the outside of the mask to prevent water.

Eventually, masks from protecting people will return to threaten our health, when the materials that make it mainly plastic begin to decompose, on a microscopic level to create microplastics and beads.

In fact, the pandemic has brought a great business opportunity for the giants in the plastic industry - Big Plastic. "The plastics industry sees COVID as an opportunity, that reusables are dirty and dangerous, and that single-use plastics are needed to keep them safe," said John Hocevar, ocean campaign manager at Greenpeace USA. keep us safe".

One way or another, they pushed that message, culminating in their PR campaign in July 2020. When the president and chief executive officer of the Plastics Industry Association testified before the National American Society, he has argued that single-use plastic is a health necessity during the pandemic.

Finally, for the first time in human history, a president of the plastics industry can proudly and boldly declare "plastics save lives".

Nowadays, wearing a mask is an inevitable part of life.

That fear-based communication campaign was successful and successful. According to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2021, global consumption of single-use plastics has increased by 300% since the pandemic began.

Demand for masks has even increased with the progress of the pandemic. In the UK alone, a study in December 2021 showed that the consumption of disposable masks has increased by 9,000%.

And as more transmissible variants like Delta and Omicron emerged, they prompted public health officials to push for further use of heavy duty masks like the KN95 and N95.

Catastrophe at the cellular level

As we enter the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, research has not only stopped at the initial concerns of environmentalists, but they have also begun to raise new concerns.

Sarper Sarp, a professor of chemical engineering at Swansea University in Wales, conducted a study that tested the breakdown of nine types of disposable masks.

After dipping them in water and leaving them alone, Sarp and his team discovered that the masks were releasing microscopic, nano-sized plastic particles into the water. The water oozing out of those masks now resembles a poisonous tea.

The water seeping out of the masks is now like a poisonous tea.

Research shows that disposable masks can release silicon nanoparticles, heavy metals like lead, cadmium, copper, and even arsenic.

Sarp said that he himself was surprised at the concentration of hundreds to thousands of toxic particles released from each mask in just a short period of time. These particles, according to Sarp, could have been poisoning the entire marine ecosystem, food chain and contaminating freshwater sources.

The presence of silicon nanoparticles is of particular concern. Silicon is a popular material in health care products, because of its easy sterilization and maintenance properties. "But when it comes to the nanoscale, it's a completely different story," says Sarp.

Microplastics at the microscopic size are harmful to the ecosystem. But they can be filtered out quite effectively by our bodies, from our lungs to our digestive system.

The particles at the nanoscale are up to 1000 times smaller than microns. Whether plastic, silicon or other materials, they can pass through cell walls. In particular, recent research on silicon nanoparticles has shown that they can turn into small cancer-causing bombs, when they also affect cellular DNA.

Multiply it by the minimum of a few hundred nanoparticles that are escaping from each mask, out of the 50,000 masks being thrown away every second. And the picture now becomes extremely scary. "As both a scientist and an environmental expert, I think this is a very urgent situation," Sarp said.

Microplastics at the microscopic size are harmful to the ecosystem.

Efforts of the market

In contrast to the giants in the plastic manufacturing industry who are trying to promote the movement of using disposable masks, its limitation and consequences are only being placed on the shoulders of a few scientists and experts. progressive businessman.

For example in the UK we see a supermarket chain, Morrisons has partnered with ReWorked which is a recycling company that is planning to collect disposable masks and turn them into useful objects, for example like planters or trash cans.

In Canada, a specialty plastic recycling service called TerraCycle has been collecting disposable masks for disposal. In the US, a group of engineers at MIT are collaborating on a start-up called Teal Bio.

Their aim is to make masks that are recyclable, or in other words, can be used over and over again. The company is targeting the customer who is the first medical worker, and they are working to perfect such an N95 mask for medical staff.

Tony Casciano, CEO of Teal Bio explains about their product: "Users [who are healthcare workers] can disinfect the masks after use with alcohol wipes or standard hospital cleaners. hospital, and then swap out the filter after your shift".

According to Teal Bio, a recycled mask can be used for 1 year. Its filters are then also biodegradable, as they are largely composed of a material Casciano calls "a special wool" made from "unique sheep".

Although Casciano did not elaborate on the so-called special wool, the idea seems to coincide with one dating back to 2017. That year, scientists in New Zealand bred a special sheep. can produce superfine bristles, which can be woven into filters for medical masks.

Teal Bio's chief technology officer, Jason Troutner, says that their product has one big advantage in the current landscape, which is it promotes sustainability.

Troutner and Casciano are confident that they have a sufficient supply of special filter wool to scale up production to meet the needs of a wide range of consumers. But according to Casciano, the company will first focus on the target market of healthcare workers.

He also would not disclose the expected selling price of the mask, saying only that Teal Bio's product would provide a "significant savings on a per-mask basis that can be reused over a period of time." five".

Thus, it can be seen that this solution is only located in a niche market, and the price of such a mask is not suitable for the pockets of many ordinary consumers.

Sarp, the Welsh scientist, said Teal Bio's effort was welcome. "But they need to be looked at on a larger scale. We are producing hundreds of millions of masks a day.

A single company in the US or the UK is not going to be the solution to the problem" - especially in the case of Teal Bio, if their market is only in the healthcare sector.

"Environmental health is human health"

Covid-19 has caused not only a human pandemic, but also left its footprint on the environment.

Climate change and extreme weather events occurring more and more in recent years have taught people a lesson. That our happiness really depends a lot on how we live in harmony with the ecosystem.

As Hocevar said: "Environmental health is human health". So, it would be naive to assume that the Covid-19 pandemic will end when the disease eventually becomes an endemic disease.

Covid-19 has caused not only a human pandemic, but also left its footprint on the environment. Billions of single-use masks will still be there, perhaps hundreds of years, thousands of years, longer than we think.

Therefore, more than ever, now is the time for us to take action to address that massive landfill, and the long-term consequences that can be placed on the ecosystem.

"Across the world there are approaches that are really promising. What we need to do is bring them together. We need to make governments understand that they have to act and then deliver. resources," Sarp said.

"Then we can hope to start working on the problem before it gets out of hand."