Disposable Face Masks: Good for Covid, Bad for the Environment

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It is no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on all of our lives. People across the world have had to make serious lifestyle changes, including wearing protective face masks. However, while we have adjusted to this life of wearing face masks, our planet has not. Many of us are aware that our lockdowns have actually helped wildlife thrive again in certain areas, but what about all the new mask litter? Since the beginning of this pandemic, disposable mask pollution has quickly become a large, yet often ignored environmental issue.


While many disposable face masks may look like they are made of paper, they are actually made of plastic microfibers. When these masks are not properly disposed of, they can end up in the environment and break down into microplastics over time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines microplastics as tiny pieces of plastic smaller than five millimeters in length (NOAA, 2016). Being that this is such a recent issue, there is a serious lack of data on mask degradation. According to new research by the University of Southern Denmark, disposable masks can actually break down “easier and faster than bulk plastics like plastic bags” due to the “microsized plastic fibers” they are made from (University of Southern Denmark, 2021).

In order to raise awareness about this issue, I decided to make an infographic. I wanted to make this information relatively easy to understand, regardless of viewers’ prior level of education on the environmental issues. I also wanted it to be brief enough that people would actually read, while also keeping it visually interesting and pleasing. In my infographic, I explain that disposable masks are not made of paper as many people believe. I also describe what microplastics are, how they impact the environment and wildlife, and what can be done to help manage this issue.

When designing my infographic, one of the first things I had to do was decide how I would frame it. A frame in this context is defined as “the cognitive map or pattern of interpretation that people use to organize their understandings of reality” (Pezzullo & Cox, 2018). While I did want my audience to know that disposable masks were creating a problem, I did not want to frame the masks themselves as bad. The problem comes from people carelessly throwing their masks out on the ground. In order to keep my infographic framed as mask-positive, I made sure to remind viewers that wearing masks is still extremely important to slow the spread of Covid-19. My overall goal with this project was for the information to be easily understood by the general public. I was not necessarily asking for much change or action, I simply hope to make people more aware of the issue. 

I felt that the best way to spread my message was on social media. Social media is a terrific way to rapidly share information with large audiences. Initially, I hoped to reach at least 100 people with my infographic. I found that a reliable way to measure this would be to post my infographic to my personal Instagram story. This way, anyone who followed me or didn’t follow me would very easily be able to click on my profile and view the infographic. After 19 hours of being posted, it had been viewed 140 times. Hopefully this issue will soon be resolved with the Covid-19 pandemic finally appearing to come to an end (but remember, it’s not completely gone yet!).



Sources

December 2020: How to Properly Dispose of Disposable Masks. (2020, December 18). Retrieved from https://www.des.nh.gov/blog/december-2020-how-properly-dispose-disposable-masks#:~:text=Disposable Masks are not Recyclable.&text=Therefore, tossing masks in your,manage, costing time and money.


NOAA. (2016, April 13). What are microplastics? Retrieved from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html#:~:text=Microplastics are small plastic pieces,our ocean and aquatic life.&text=Microbeads are tiny pieces of,as some cleansers and toothpastes.


Pezzullo, P. C., & Cox, J. R. (2018). Environmental communication and the public sphere (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.


University of Southern Denmark. (2021, March 10). Face masks and the environment: Preventing the next plastic problem. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210310122431.htm


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