Many conservationists have pointed out that the coronavirus pandemic can result in a new set of pollution in oceans —by adding a whole lot of plastic waste in oceans threatening marine life.
Disposable masks are already floating in oceans like jellyfish and can be found scattered in different seabeds. Getting rid of COVID wastes—such as gloves, masks, bottles and sanitization bottles are littered in the waves of the Mediterranean. The quantum of pollution is though not high but it can breed a new type of pollution altogether. In France, more than 2 billion disposable face masks have been ordered and this is sufficient to clog ocean life. Conservationists are now worried about the dangers of single-use plastic in managing COVID. More than 13 million tones of plastic already go into oceans and COVID can certainly add to this. 570,000 tones of plastic flow into the Mediterranean every year which is equivalent to dumping 33,800 plastic bottles every minute into the sea. Now the average lifespan of single-use plastic is 450 years. Now just imagine the devastating impact of COVID plastic items can have on our planet. These floating plastic face masks can pose a significant danger to marine life as they can mistake a mask for food. The danger is inevitable. Using biodegradable face masks can be a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, credible solutions are not available. Using a hemp mask can curb ocean pollution. Hemp masks are 100% biodegradable and they don’t use any dye color. In fact, there is no constituent in the hemp mask which poses threat to the environment. They’re also reusable and washable.