The Next Pandemic Ahead – The Waste From Our Discarded Face Masks

It is dubbed as the “plastic water bottle” of the pandemic. Those face masks, a “must” these days, are set to become the looming environment crisis that we would face.

- Johannes L. Chua

Though light as a feather (at least four grams each), millions of face masks are discarded each day, some even thrown on the road, flushed in toilets, or discarded by the river—one can imagine the mountain of trash filling up garbage trucks and landfills.

A study revealed that around 100 billion face masks (and 65 billion plastic gloves) are discarded per month. And with the Philippine government mandating strict mask use in public spaces with the rise of new cases from new variants, it is inevitable that we contribute to the rise of that 100 billion number.

How did we arrive at this problem?

The pandemic has drastically changed our lives, and that includes our habits and routines. As vaccinating everyone remains elusive, the best way to protect ourselves from COVID-19 is by wearing face masks.

Now, all medical experts, even the World Health Organization (WHO), has specifically instructed that “face masks should be disposed of as soon as it is damp.”

The WHO even presented a guideline on how to remove a mask, saying, “First, clean your hands; remove face mask from behind with the ear or head strap; do not touch the front of the mask; pull the mask away from your face; discard immediately in a closed bin; wash hands properly with soap and water.”

With this, it is clear that face masks, specifically the single-use ones, “cannot be recycled,” adding that those who feel unwell or suspect themselves to be exposed with the virus to “store face masks for 72 hours before disposing in the bin.”