In November, Mancunian Matters reported that a huge 53 million non-recyclable single-use face masks a day were being thrown away and sent to landfill.
TradeWaste, a UK waste company, predicted that a total of 19.2 billion non-recyclable masks will be thrown away in 2021 is rules on mask-wearing continue.
Now, they fear that may increase to 19.5 billion and litter pickers across the UK are reporting a huge increase in the number of dumped contaminated face masks being spotted on their patrols.
Charlotte Green, TradeWaste spokesperson, explained: “The scale of the problem of carelessly dumped disposable face masks is massive.
“We use 52 million plastic masks a day and sadly some of these are being dropped, or simply fall from people’s pockets.
“Sightings are increasingly common now.”
In Fife, the Street Champions group reported one mask for every 60m they patrolled near a shopping area in Rosyth.
And TradeWaste says this is common across the whole of the UK.
Six-year-old Max Ratcliffe from Menston, West Yorkshire took part in a home-schooling project to examine litter’s effect on the environment in his local wood.
He was shocked when he found one mask every 50m on a popular path for dog-walkers and said: “I think it’s really bad.
“People should put them in the bin.
“Animals might eat them, and they might die.”
Many of discarded masks will blow into woods, streams, rivers and eventually end up in the sea and could cause catastrophic damage to animals living there.
However, Ms Green warned that animals are not the only ones in danger from discarded masks: “You should not touch a used mask.
“They should be treated like any other contaminated material and only handled professionally using the right protecting equipment.
“There are obvious risks associated with coming into contact with a used mask.”
Fearing a potentially huge blow to the environment this year, Ms Green concluded: “The way to tackle this potential environmental disaster is for everyone to move towards washable reusable masks.
“Not only will this cut down on single use mask litter, but it also reduces the environmental impacts of manufacturing 19.5 billion plastic masks in the first place.
“As a country we have worked so hard to reduce plastic consumption, yet we are sleepwalking into another nightmare.”
Data from TradeWaste.co.uk
For local information visit https://www.tradewaste.co.uk/manchester/
Photo credit: Markus Winkler from Pixabay
