Single-use face mask and other synthetic face masks are going to be a big waste management hazard. Just give it a thought how difficult it is to dispose of millions of gloves, PPE kits and face masks being thrown every day. And a majority of this COVID waste is not disposable. Our environment is going to be cursed with this pile of COVID waste for the next 450 years. Masks, gloves, hand sanitizer bottles are already being found in seawater and joining the ocean ecosystems. We are already getting disturbing images of photos and videos. We may have more masks in the sea than jellyfish, This risk was flagged first when Ocean Asia discovered a huge number of masks in plastic pollution research. The problem was first noticed when a cluster of mask was found on the Soko island in Hong Kong. In many cities, plastic recycling programs have been paused. The quarantine economy has locked people in the room and that means more online deliveries resulting in packaging waste. Medical waste in cities has piled up. The situation is even worse in developing countries like India. Because of the lack of a mechanism for the collection and disposal of used face masks, single-use plastic masks are piling up on landfill sites. They’re simply being dumped in the garbage
