Lanka faces looming threat to its environment from haphazard disposal of non-biodegradable face masks

Sri Lanka’s environment is facing a looming threat owing to the 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 of 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 plastics. 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 posed 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 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. 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 plastics. 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.

Prof. Bandara said: “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.

“Studies carried out in the Mediterranean Sea and ocean bottoms near Hong Kong have shown lining of ocean bottom by layers of face masks which inhibit transfer of oxygen between water and soil in the bottom. With time ocean bottom will create an anaerobic condition which will badly affect the survival of benthic organisms like sea anemones, sponges, corals, sea stars, sea urchins, worms, bivalves, crabs, When the ocean is polluted by facemasks those in settle ocean bottom as well as among aquatic weeds and corals which disturb and disturbed the normal behavioural patterns of aquatic living organisms. Macroorganisms like fishes, jellyfish, and turtles will indigest face masks. This will destroy the eco- system balance and ocean productivity will go down posing a risk to the fisheries industry.

“Plastics will be broken into tiny particles less than 5 micrometres in size and form micro plastics in the form of fibres and/or particulate matter in the ocean, freshwater and marine environment. Different packaging plastic materials, bottling plastic materials and containers from the food processing industries are primary sources of micro plastics pollution. Polypropylene mixed face masks would be another source of micro plastic, especially in ocean and soil. Ultimately, Micro plastics will enter the human body through terrestrial and aquatic food chains causing numerous diseases including different types of cancers.

“As a nation, we have to develop a strategic plan to deal with the post-covid crises. One of the strategies should focus on proper disposal of PPE waste including waste face masks.

If we take examples from the world, countries like China, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan have already identified face masks as an emerging waste category and place bins with a new colour code in public places to separate waste face masks from other type of waste at the point of generation. Incineration of waste face masks is a viable option. Incinerating means burning face masks at high temperatures greater than 1000-1200 centigrade in an incinerator or dumping them in a sanitary landfill after boiling or subjecting to a heat treatment. By practicing this kind of a waste management strategy, we can stop sending waste face masks into different eco-systems. As a nation, we should recognise the importance of waste face masks management by understanding waste face masks and other disposable PPEs as an emerging waste category and should make a waste management plan immediately without further delays. Making this effort a priority by allocating required resources is an investment. Otherwise, we will be desperately looking for solutions to reclaim degraded ecosystems as we drop our agricultural production, fisheries production, increment of vector-borne diseases and other non-communicable diseases, unknown ideologies, losing corals and biological diversity.