Haphazard disposal of used face masks pose major environmental risk: Kelaniya prof.

Sri Lanka’s environment is facing a looming threat owing to haphazard disposal of millions of used face masks and personal protective equipment, reveals a recent study by the University of Kelaniya.

“Mostly, face masks are made of petroleum-based non-renewable polymers that are non-biodegradable, hazardous to the environment and create health issues. It is reported that Sri Lanka generates around 14 to 70 million face mask waste a week,” said Prof Rangika Bandara, Director of the Centre for Sustainability Solutions of the University’s Department of Zoology and Environmental Management.

She said: “We should understand that disposable face masks which are commonly known as surgical face masks or K-95 masks contain polypropylene which is a popular kind of plastic. According to study findings, a K-95 mask contains about 9 grams of polypropylene and this value is around 4.5 gram in a surgical face mask. By looking at these numbers, it is estimated that as a country Sri Lanka emits 47,185 tons of polypropylene per week to the environment through face masks only.”

“Plastic is considered as a non-biodegradable material as it takes over 500 years to get rid of it from the environment. Disposing facemasks inappropriately on different land surfaces will gradually end up in rivers, lakes, ponds, forests and other vegetation, agricultural fields and finally in oceans by washing them off with runoff and surface flooding and also by wind,” she said.

Prof Bandara said that disposal of used face masks along with other disposable personal protective equipment pose serious risks to valuable global eco-systems creating threats to public health.

According to the health experimental results, wearing a face mask will reduce the risk of transmitting the coronavirus by 47% by acting as a particle filter and by minimising the number of times an individual touches the face/mouth/nose with unwashed hands. Therefore, WHO has recommended wearing a suitable face mask appropriately at public places and when interacting with COVID infected or suspected cases.

Also, according to the WHO estimates nearly 89 million face masks are needed worldwide to control COVID 19 each month.

While the soil is contaminated with plastics, soil texture and structure will be altered and become unsuitable for plant growth hence with time, we will not be able to harvest expected yields from agricultural fields. On that day the damage will become irreversible. Not only the soil but also clogging drainage and irrigation channels by waste face masks can be expected.

Currently, most of the irrigation and drainage channels in the country, especially in urban areas are already clogged by invasive aquatic weeds such as Eichornia (japan jabara) and Salvinia creating a huge social and environmental problem. Inappropriate disposal of face masks will trigger the problem as they associate with water weeds creating a mesh thereby further blocking water passages. If that is the case, flash floods in cities even in light rains would be unavoidable which is a significant economic loss and greater impact on livelihood specially those who have settled along the water canals.