Long Blog 3 — Masks and more begin to fill up local streets amid COVID-19 crisis
The never-ending dystopian life that COVID-19 has unwelcomely brought onto us is a story that we’re all beginning to get bored of. The endless waves, lockdowns, and isolations that we are all experiencing is something out of normal human nature, and undoubtedly can have adverse effects on behaviours and moods — but none is this is anything you haven’t heard before. The news cycles through updates on the virus as if world peace has been achieved and the pandemic are now the only real-world issue, but that couldn’t be further from accurate. There’s an underlying crucial problem that’s always been around that this virus has done an excellent job of not only shielding, but reverting progress that has been made in Calgary and Canada in the last few years. Can you guess?
Think about the last walk you took, whether it was in a public park or down a sidewalk beside a street, and raise your hand if you walked past any abandoned masks or gloves on the ground. What was once an abundance of cigarette butts has shifted and added on stomped on PPE at alarming rates, and similarly, seems to go without consequence.
While there are many Calgary news reports, with one labelled “Gloves and masks become problem litter as COVID-19 prompts people to cover up” the content inside conveys more concern about contraction and spread of disease from these masks in the wind, and seemingly forgets about the overarching impact this will have on the environment as a pollution relapse. But good news, at least they concluded that “after a period of time in harsh environments, sunlight, cold or wet weather, oxidated environments will break down the virus and make it non-viable.” (Spencer Gloves and masks become problem litter as COVID-19 prompts people to cover up) Maybe now that that’s out of the way they can now look at the bigger picture?
Apart from that, the government is also spreading a misconception of guidance that has yet to be addressed. In a section on the Alberta government’s website, there is a What not to do with your mask section, and lists many things all beginning with ‘do not’. However then it also says “discard your mask in public by discarding it on a sidewalk…” (COVID-19 information: Guidance for non-medical face masks for the general public) leading some Albertans to feel justified for trashing the city simply because that’s what they believe the government has instructed them to do, and are too apathetic to fact check.
To put into perspective the severity of this in Alberta, in a town named Vermilion north of Calgary, with a population of 5000, a group of people volunteering to clean up the streets found 320 masks. That’s 6.4% of the population in ditched masks. (Picking up masks can bring all Albertans together) No one is talking about cigarette butts anymore, and while that is inevitably still a concern, cigarette butts take approximately 18 months to 10 years to fully decompose. (Cigarette Litter — Biodegradable?) Conversely, masks can take up to 450 years to degrade just into microplastics which will stay to harm the environment afterwards. (Estimated 1.56 billion face masks will have entered oceans in 2020 — OceansAsia Report)
However, let’s rewind to 2019 when life was normal, and pollution was different but still evident. Justin Trudeau was just re-elected and in his platform, he insisted that Canada will ban single-use plastics by as early as 2021. If this had come into effect, it was conveyed that this would reduce plastic waste by 47%, as that much comes solely from single-use plastics. (Oceana Canada Eighty-Six Per Cent of Canadians Support a National Ban on Single-Use Plastics by 2021) Back then, there was time to plan revolutions such as this, but the pandemic has reverted all progress tens of years behind where it used to be. The longer this pandemic continues, the more behind the city, province, and country will be on getting back to where it used to be, let alone back on track to banning all these single-use plastics; and yes, that includes disposable masks.
This will not just be an issue until the pandemic is over, or even just for this generation, it is a scary reality that this will be a problem that impacts people, your family and kids, and their kids, for hundreds of years to come.
Works Cited
“Cigarette Litter — Biodegradable?” Cigarette Litter — Biodegradable? Web. 08 Apr. 2021.
“COVID-19 Information: Guidance for Non-medical Face Masks for the General Public.” 10 June 2020. Web. 08 Apr. 2021.
“Estimated 1.56 Billion Face Masks Will Have Entered Oceans in 2020 — OceansAsia Report.” OCEANS ASIA. 07 Dec. 2020. Web. 08 Apr. 2021.
Oceana Canada. “Eighty-Six Per Cent of Canadians Support a National Ban on Single-Use Plastics by 2021.” GlobeNewswire News Room. Oceana Canada, 22 June 2020. Web. 08 Apr. 2021.
“Picking up Masks Can Bring All Albertans Together.” CochraneToday.ca. Web. 08 Apr. 2021.
Spencer, Donna. “Gloves and Masks Become Problem Litter as COVID-19 Prompts People to Cover up.” Calgary. CTV News, 26 Apr. 2020. Web. 08 Apr. 2021.
