During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global usage of disposable facemasks reached a staggering 129 billion per month. Most of these masks are manufactured from petroleum-based non-renewable plastics like polypropylene and the disposal of these masks results in serious pollution problems. These include the loss of ecological integrity from buried waste in landfills, air pollution from increased waste incineration, and microplastic pollution.
Recent research by engineers at Washington University in St. Louis investigated the multipronged pollution problem brought about by discarded facemasks. The study in particular looked at the chemical changes that occur when facemasks are exposed to sunlight, water, and trace metal ions.
Masks littering the environment degrade into nanoplastics and produce reactive oxygen species. These chemical agents interact with trace metal ions in the environment within hours. The result is oxides of metals like manganese and iron, which can drive various biogeochemical reactions.
Abandoning and forgetting about plastics like facemasks is an unsustainable practice. Plastics not only cause physical damage, but also introduce unpredictable and potentially dangerous chemical changes into environmental systems.
Plastic waste is a global problem that has continued to grow and become an increasingly serious threat over decades. Understanding the nature of the effects of billions of facemasks in the environment is essential to efforts to address the challenges created by them.
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Sun exposure changes chemical fate of littered face masks
Photo, posted August 21, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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