Face masks: protecting the wearer but neglecting the aquatic environment? - A perspective from Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT: In Bangladesh, as with many countries, the spread of COVID-19 made the wearing of single-use face masks, a non-pharmaceutical intervention to reduce viral transmission, surge in popularity amongst the general population. Consequently, irresponsible discarding of used masks into the environment, and mismanagement of the waste they produce, is potentially placing a large pollution burden on aquatic ecosystems in the country. Slow degradation of mask-derived polypropylene and polyethylene fibres creates large reservoirs of microplastic pollutants and these have acute and chronic effects on aquatic organism physiology. Using literature reviews, extrapolation of published data, and field observations, we present an emerging issue of pollution from COVID-19 personal protective equipment such as

SUBMITTER: Hasan NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9040459 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature