1.6 billion disposable face masks ended up in the ocean in 2020 and will take 450 years to biodegrade.
According to reports, more than 52 billion face masks were produced during the course of the Covid pandemic.
The majority of the masks produced were made in China and now they are polluting the oceans and putting wildlife in danger.
Masks do not protect against Covid so all we ended up with was a multi-billion dollar a year mask industry and polluted oceans.
Yahoo News reported:
An estimated 1.6 billion disposable masks wound up in the ocean in 2020, creating a vast pile of floating plastic waste and threatening marine life across the planet.
Researchers from Visual Capitalist found that 3 per cent of the 52 billion disposable single-use masks produced to curb the Covid-19 pandemic found their way into the sea.
The throwaway masks sent 5500 metric tonnes of plastic into the oceans, which will take up to 450 years to biodegrade, the group said.
The waste from N95 and surgical masks created a mass of plastic waste about 7 per cent of the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge gyre of floating debris that circulates in ocean currents.