Whether being worn, piled up in trash bins, or scattered as litter in gutters and city streets, one of the most enduring symbols of the COVID-19 era is the billions of disposable face masks that people relied on to protect themselves and their families during the pandemic's peak.
According to a new study, those once-ubiquitous face masks have endured in other ways, too: as environmental pollutants and potential threats to public health.
"While masks were essential in protecting us from COVID, their environmental legacy cannot be ignored," said Anna Bogush, one of the study authors, according to Interesting Engineering. "We must consider safer designs and better waste management systems to prevent long-term damage."
To better understand the environmental impacts and health risks of discarded masks, the researchers took unused facemasks and left them in pure water at room temperature for 24 hours. The researchers then ran a series of tests to see what substances the previously pure water contained.
What they discovered led them to sound the alarm about the need for better alternatives.
For their study, the researchers divided facial protective wear into two categories: disposable surgical or medical face masks (MM DFMs) and filtering face pieces (FFPs).
While all the masks were found to shed microplastics, "FFPs released 3-4 times more microplastic particles compared to MM DFMs," the authors wrote.
In addition to microplastics, the researchers found that masks shed dangerous chemicals such as bisphenol B and sulfosuccinate. Both of these substances, which leached from the unused face masks into the water, are known to cause serious health problems in humans and persist in the environment for decades, according to Interesting Engineering.
As the study authors pointed out, better understanding the impacts of protective face masks on human health and the environment is important for both addressing existing mask waste and creating better alternatives for the future.
Bisphenol B has been known to disrupt human hormones and to harm aquatic life. Once in water, bisphenol B can contaminate drinking supplies, per Interesting Engineering.
The study authors emphasized the need to avoid improper disposal of personal protective equipment, such as through littering and landfills, where microplastics and other hazardous materials can contaminate the environment.
The first step to addressing the problem of contamination from protective face masks is to better understand the risks, something the study authors set out to do.
Now that there is a better understanding of the harms, the next step will be to investigate ways to create personal protective equipment that does not pose similar risks to human health and the environment while also devising better means for proper disposal.
In addition to using protective face masks to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, people also use them to limit the risk of other harms, such as wildfire smoke.
With wildfires growing more intense and a future pandemic looming as an inevitability, it is important to devise a better solution soon.