Corona virus pandemic and environnemental disaster
Sky world news/ Three million medical masks are thrown away every minute due to their mass adoption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and experts warn it could soon lead to environmental disaster.
Face masks are worn by the majority of people around the world to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
However, they pose a greater risk to the environment than plastic bags, due to their ubiquity and the fact that there is no way to safely decontaminate and recycle them.
In an article published by the University of Southern Denmark, experts call the huge amount of masks worn and thrown a "time bomb".
They add that discarded masks break down into dangerous microfibers and they can also carry dangerous chemicals into the environment.
The production of face masks is now equivalent to that of plastic bottles, or about 43 billion items per month.
But thanks to the relentless efforts of environmental activists to improve recycling for many years, one in four bottles is now fully recycled. However, no mask is.
If thrown recklessly in nature, masks break down into plastic micro and nanofibers within weeks. These tiny fibers, less than 5mm and 1mm in size respectively, pose a huge risk to animal and human health.
