Nearly 1.6 billion disposable masks polluted oceans in 2020, will take 450 years to decomposehttps://justthenews.com/politics-policy/environment/estimated-16-billion-disposable-masks-polluted-oceans-2020-will-takeNearly 1.6 billion disposable face masks ended up in the earth's oceans in 2020, out of the roughly 52 billion produced in response to the pandemic, according to a study.
While governments around the world continue to support mask mandates in public spaces, the impact of disposable masks is only just emerging.
The report, by the Hong Kong-based marine conservation group OceansAsia, title "Masks on the Beach," also estimated that roughly 5,500 tons of plastic pollution entered the ocean in 2020 from masks.
Obviously, this is a guesstimate, probably with +/-50% accuracy. Also missing is who the likely worst offenders are. WRT that, I'll go with countries with large cities near the coast or large rivers, that also have open garbage dumps, and have major rainstorms that wash @#$% into the river and the seas.
