This PPE litter is more hazardous than normal garbage, as it has a higher risk of spreading the novel coronavirus. Not only is this newest trash item unsightly, but face masks that have been worn by people infected with COVID-19 — or even the common flu — basically are medical waste. Microbes can live for days on moist surfaces and easily could infect others who might touch such a mask.
Buy a Reusable Mask!
“The use of reusable masks by the general population will significantly reduce plastic waste and the climate change impact of any policy requirements for the wearing of face masks”
Professor Mark Miodownik, University College London.
The most plentiful and popular face mask is the light blue disposable. The downside to these face coverings is too many people carelessly discard them like common litter.
Across our country shoppers, joggers, hikers, sunbathers, runners, surfers have found them lying on the ground in parking lots, street gutters, hiking trails, beaches, and in the ocean and waterways.
“PPE is intended to help us fight a public health challenge, not create a plastic pollution problem,” says Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
Disposable masks will add hundreds of thousands of tons of plastic waste to our planet. Many commercially available masks are made from layers of plastics and are designed to be single-use. According to an analysis by scientists at the University College London, if every person in the UK used one single-use mask each day for a year, an extra 66,000 tons of contaminated plastic waste would be created. This translates to over 350,000 tons of plastic waste in the USA.
Do the right thing, buy a Pro PPE Mask today here!
