disposable

Facemask pollution

August 28, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

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

Disposable Masks And The Environment | Earth Wise

August 12, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Covid-19 pandemic has made face masks and other personal protective equipment essential for healthcare workers. Disposable N95 masks became the key requirement to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But the wide use of these masks has both financial and environmental costs.

The pandemic is estimated to generate over 7,000 tons of medical waste each day and much of that is in the form of disposable masks. Even though the pandemic has slowed down in many places, health care workers are continuing to wear masks most of the time.

A new study at MIT has looked at the financial and environmental cost of several different mask usage scenarios with an eye on trying to reduce the toll created by the continued need for using them.

If every health care worker in the US used a new N95 mask for each patient they encountered during the first six months of the pandemic, the total number of masks required would be over 7 billion, at a cost of over $6 billion and would generate 92,000 tons of waste (the equivalent of 252 Boeing 747 jets.)

Decontaminating regular N95 masks so that health care workers can wear them for more than one day could drop costs and environmental waste by at least 75% compared with using a new mask for every patient encounter.

Fully reusable N95 masks could offer an even greater reduction in waste, but such masks are not yet commercially available. MIT researchers are developing a reusable N95 mask made of silicone rubber that contains an N95 filter than can either be discarded or sterilized after use. They have started a new company with the goal of commercializing the masks.

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The environmental toll of disposable masks

Photo, posted August 4, 2020, courtesy of the U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jake Greenberg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Replacing Plastic Tableware | Earth Wise

December 30, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Plastics have been described as the “ubiquitous workhorse material of the modern economy.” But their versatility, pliability, and durability comes at a heavy price to the environment. Plastic pollution is quite literally everywhere. Plastic debris and microplastic particles can be found in every corner of the globe, including the Arctic and Antarctic.

The scourge of plastic pollution is driving scientists to create ecologically-friendly alternatives. According to a paper recently published in the journal Matter, scientists have developed “green” tableware made from sugarcane and bamboo that doesn’t sacrifice on convenience or functionality. This eco-friendly tableware could serve as a permanent replacement for plastic cups and other disposable plastic containers.

Traditional plastic polymers, a product of petroleum, can take as long as 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. The new material only takes 60 days to break down.

To create this material, scientists used bamboo and bagasse, also known as sugarcane pulp. Bagasse is one of the largest food-industry waste products. The researchers wound the fibers together to form a mechanically stable and biodegradable material. They added an alkyl ketene dimer, an eco-friendly chemical, to increase the oil and water resistance of the material. The green material is durable enough to hold liquids like hot coffee and hot greasy foods like pizza.

There’s another advantage: the green material’s manufacturing process emits 97% less CO2 than the process to make commercial plastic containers. The next step is to lower the manufacturing cost. While the cost of cups made from the green material is $2,333 per ton, traditional cups made from plastic are still slightly cheaper at $2,177 per ton.

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This tableware made from sugarcane and bamboo breaks down in 60 days

Photo, posted May 19, 2013, courtesy of Henry Burrows via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Australian Plastic Bag Ban

December 31, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Last summer, the two largest supermarket chains in Australia – Coles and Woolworth’s – decided to stop offering single-use disposable plastic bags to customers. The initial public reaction was decidedly negative. However, within just three months after the radical change, the country’s National Retail Association reported an 80% drop in the consumption of plastic bags nationwide.

In that three-month period, it is estimated that 1.5 billion bags have been prevented from use. Some retailers are reporting reduction rates as high as 90% in the use of the bags. The move by the big supermarkets has paved the way for smaller businesses to follow suit. The smaller businesses typically can’t afford to risk the wrath of their customers with a major change like this. Customers have to learn to bring their own bags or buy reusable bags at the store.

In much of Australia, the phase-out of plastic bags has been legislated, but the state of New South Wales, home to Sydney, the country’s largest city, has not enacted such legislation. So, supermarkets themselves are doing the work of getting rid of the bags.

The change has not been without hiccups. For the first couple of months after the plastic bag ban was put in place, Woolworth’s saw poor sales in its stores. However, customers eventually got used to the new way of doing things and sales levels returned.

Disposable plastic bags often find their way into the oceans where they break down into microparticles. Studies have shown that these plastic bits are ingested by a wide variety of marine life. For example, a UK study found that 100% of sea turtles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea had plastic in their digestive systems.

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Australia-wide ban leads to ’80 per cent drop’ in plastic bag consumption

Photo, posted September 18, 2018, courtesy of Matthew Paul Argall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Edible Tableware

July 4, 2017 By EarthWise

The problems caused by plastics in the environment continue to mount. Major companies around the world are endorsing and promoting efforts to combat the problem including the New Plastics Economy Initiative which aims to have 70% of plastic packaging reused and recycled globally, which is five times more than the current percentage.

[Read more…] about Edible Tableware