{"id":2549,"date":"2021-09-27T15:17:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T07:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sgsupport.com\/?post_type=resource&p=2549"},"modified":"2022-09-22T16:18:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T08:18:59","slug":"4-ways-to-responsibly-reduce-face-masks-pollution","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.sgsupport.com\/th\/resources\/4-ways-to-responsibly-reduce-face-masks-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Masks, Big Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

4 Ways to Responsibly Reduce Face Masks Pollution<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Wearing a face mask is the recommended best practice to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and to keep us and our loved ones safe. It has also become mandatory in some parts of the world, leading to a boom in the use of single-use face masks. With any growth, the boom of mask usage has come with a new environmental problem.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to estimates by Greenpeace Taiwan, at the beginning of the pandemic (from early February to mid-May 2020) Taiwan, with a population of 23.57 million, produced and used roughly 1.3 billion surgical masks<\/a>.\u00a0If each face mask weighs 4 grams, that\u2019s roughly 5,500 metric tonnes of face masks produced in the span of only three months, which is equivalent to the weight of 55 blue whales!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To make matters worse, used face masks are \u201cunrecyclable\u201d because they may be contaminated and could potentially lead to indirect infection and viral transmission if they enter the recycle system.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Most face masks contain plastics or other by-products of plastics materials. As such, when discarded irresponsibly, it contributes to plastic pollution which majorly threatens the environment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We can now easily find littered face masks everywhere \u2013 from roadsides to the oceans. This immediately impacts the wildlife through direct and indirect ingestion, as well as entanglements which can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal obstructions or death by starvation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

More alarmingly, scientists found that disposable masks could be releasing chemical pollutants and nano-plastics when submerged into wate<\/a>r<\/a>. The heavy metals found were also “bio-accumulative”, which means they would remain in the aquatic systems and build up over time. With the vast amount of face masks being produced, we can only imagine how this can affect our seas and the wider environment in the long run. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With so much happening, it seems that the one important conversation we are not having enough of is – What Can We Do?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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