CM – More microplastics enter the oceans through disposable masks

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October 6, 2021

by Patrick Lejtenyi, Concordia University

The huge increase in the use of face masks since the global lockdown began in March 2020 has saved countless lives, a crucial component in limiting the transmission of the novel coronavirus. But with 129 billion masks consumed around the world every month, disposal has become a major issue affecting human, animal and environmental health.

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The problem is exacerbated because, according to a recent study by Concordia researchers, a single mask exposed to natural conditions can release more than 1.5 million microplastics into the watery environment. In a new work, Ph.D. Student Zheng Wang and Chunjiang An, an assistant professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, are studying how disposable masks degrade in a coastal environment and what impact this has on the environment. They investigate changes in the chemical composition and the loss of strength of the three different mask layers caused by UV exposure and sand abrasion.

Coastlines, they write, are not only the main receptors of discarded masks; their unique environment also causes masks to further break down into plastic particles.

The researchers simulated the environmental conditions on the coast on a series of masks and created a control group to compare them to. The test masks were placed in an uncovered Petri dish and exposed to UV light for between one and 48 hours. Control samples were wrapped in aluminum foil and exposed under the same conditions.

Then they separated the masks by layers – outer, middle, and inner – and exposure times and placed them in bottles to test and control the presence of sand. The strips were then analyzed using a scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope. The researchers also examined the particle size distribution in a water sample with a LISST-200X particle size analyzer.

After 18 hours of weathering, the outer and inner layers of the masks showed noticeable damage to their fiber surfaces. However, the fibers in the middle layer were heavier, being six times smaller than in the outer and inner layers: the surfaces had become abrasive and fractures occurred. After 36 hours of UV irradiation, the fibers in all three layers were broken, creating tiny fiber fragments and particles starting to adhere to the fibers. Their surfaces showed clear signs of weathering, including cracks, flakes, grooves and pits. The damage was most severe in the middle layer, where all the fibers were broken into small fragments.

These results coincided with an observed increase in the number of microparticles released into the water after 18 hours of weathering. After 36 hours, the researchers observed that the broken mask fibers easily got into the water, even with the naked eye, and there were millions of tiny particles in the sample water.

The results tell Wang and An that urgent action is needed to remove the billions of masks used around the world every month.

“We need to be environmentally conscious and reduce the number of masks left in the environment. Our governments and industries also need to improve existing waste management practices and make masks with a lower environmental impact, « says Wang.

On an immediate, practical level, An adds, simply adding more specialized mask containers for public use in places would be like the university campus, support the collection of used masks and prevent abandoned masks from getting into the natural environment.

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