Some of them make their way to rivers and oceans and wash up in remote, wild places. Invisibly, powerful disinfectants also end up in the water—and persist. The transformation from protection to pollution happens quickly, but the damage can last for centuries.
Ana María Rule, PhD ’05, MHS ’98, an assistant professor in Environmental Health and Engineering and an expert on aerosols and particulate matter, understands the protective powers of masks and advocates for their proper use. In this Q&A, she also advocates for reducing their impact—by using fewer of them, replacing them with reusable options when possible, disposing of them properly, and developing environmentally friendly alternatives.The U.S. and other industrialized countries have relatively good waste management systems. In contrast, trash in low-income countries often accumulates on the streets (which ends up washing to streams and rivers ending in the ocean), or is disposed in illegal dumping sites (many times open air), landfills, and open burning. Of course, even where there are good waste management systems, people have to make use of those systems and dispose of their masks properly—in trash bins—and that doesn’t always happen. I have seen so many photos and videos of masks in rivers and oceans, and of course it’s not sustainable.