Discarded face masks found on one in three beaches
Marine charity says PPE waste now so common on Britain’s coastline it has been given its own category
FACE MASKS are becoming a new form of litter, the Marine Conservation Society has warned, as its survey found almost one in three beaches were polluted by PPE. The charity’s annual beach clean found a sharp rise in the number of masks and gloves abandoned on the coast or washed ashore.
While it has always tracked medical paraphernalia including pill packets and syringes, this was the first year that enough masks and gloves were found to consider them as a separate category.
Volunteer beachcombers recovered 148 face masks and 58 plastic gloves.
While the levels were lower than the most dominant forms of litter, such as small pieces of plastic, cigarette stubs and wet wipes, the charity said they pointed to a worryingly sudden rise in people discarding protective items.
Lizzie Prior, the beach clean coordinator, said: “Considering mask wearing was only made mandatory in shops in England in late July, little more than three months before the Great British Beach Clean, the sharp increase in PPE litter should be a warning for what could be a new form of litter polluting our beaches in the future.”
It comes after the Government pledged that the pandemic would not undo its efforts to tackle single-use plastics, including a ban in England on plastic stirrers, straws and cotton buds introduced last month.
In July, Zac Goldsmith, an environment minister, said the pandemic had led to an “unavoidable reliance on single-use plastics” but the Government was considering ways to mitigate this.
In a briefing document released in September, the Department of Health said it was prioritising research into the decontamination of scarce FFP3 respirators, used to protect medical staff, both for environmental reasons and because of ongoing issues with obtaining a reliable supply.
Like other forms of plastic litter, masks and gloves pose a threat to sea life. Marine birds find themselves entangled in elastic ear loops and animals can die of starvation after filling their stomachs with indigestible plastic.
On average, more than 167 small plastic and polystyrene pieces of less than 50cm were found for every 100m of beach in the clean up. Almost all litter picks found discarded drinks containers, as the charity urged the government to establish a promised deposit return scheme to encourage recycling.
A Defra spokesman said: “We know that the pandemic has meant an unavoidable reliance on single-use plastics such as PPE, but it’s vital we all dispose of our waste in the correct manner.
“The Government is taking action to tackle single-use plastics and combat litter, and has increased the maximum on-the-spot fine for littering to £150 and introduced penalties for the owners of vehicles from which litter is thrown.”