Do surgical masks take centuries to decompose?

• Since the beginning of deconfinement, we are witnessing more and more a new phenomenon: the throw of sanitary masks on the floor after their use.
• In a tweet shared more than 22,000 times, a user warns that these masks take 450 to decompose in nature.
• 20 Minutes takes stock.

Are the disposable surgical masks used to fight the coronavirus on the way to becoming the butts of the world of tomorrow? This is the question that we can ask ourselves by walking the streets of our cities (and our countryside, to a lesser extent) since these masks are available for sale to the general public in commerce or in pharmacies. In this period of deconfinement, impossible or almost to walk 100 meters without seeing abandoned masks on the sidewalks or in the gutters.

An observation that increasingly worries the French, as shown for example by this tweet shared almost twenty-two thousand times since May 18: "Hello pigs, it takes 450 years for a surgical mask to decompose in nature #Know it ".

Hello pigs, it takes 450 years for a surgical mask to decompose in nature #KnowThe pic.twitter.com/PVskogpzoE

If no one seems to defend polluters of a new kind, some internet users wonder on the other hand about the decomposition time scale mentioned in the tweet. "I have big doubts about this duration but these incivilities are no less detestable", replies for example a first twitto. "If it is polypropylene, a period of 25 years would be more credible than 450 years," said another. So what is it really?

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Contacted by 20 Minutes , Jean-François Gérard is adamant, this estimate is completely credible. “These masks are made of polypropylene, it is the most widespread polymer. And polypropylene is anything but biodegradable, ”says this teacher-researcher in the engineering laboratory of polymer materials at the University of Lyon. Hence this extremely long time scale. We have heard of 400-450 years but it is possibly more than that. "

"And then we must also bear in mind that when we talk about biodegradability, that implies being in conditions favorable to biodegradation," he adds. If we bury these masks at the bottom of the garden, in a year, they are still there, intact. Favorable soil, humidity and temperature conditions are needed to promote biodegradability. It is not done under any conditions. "

“These are materials that do not degrade, supports Antidia Citores, spokesperson for the NGO Surfrider Foundation Europe, committed to protecting the oceans. It is a product which, if it reaches the marine environment, will remain a threat to biodiversity for a very, very long time. Whether it is masks, gloves, blouses, overcoats, bathrobes for hairdressers for single use, we are creating a new deposit of waste. »Thrown in a hurry in the gutters of the cities,« these masks will pass in the runoff, it will come to clog up the treatment plants, as is currently the case with the disposable wipes that the people throw in the toilets ”, continues Jean-François Gérard.

No recommendations on this subject in government clips

Surfrider alerted the government three weeks ago to the health and environmental risks that this availability of disposable single-use equipment would cause in the fight against Covid-19. “It is clear that, even if we were ominous birds, reality corroborates our intuition. From the moment we consume disposables, people do not always have the right reflexes. We are unfortunately not surprised… ”, deplores the NGO spokesperson. During his discussions with the office of the Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Elisabeth Borne, Surfrider was assured that, in government messages reminding us of barrier gestures, a mention would be made about good practices to be respected concerning the use of the mask.

“But the Ministry of Health plays much less the game, nothing is done for the moment about these masks which must be thrown in the trash. We find it unfortunate that the work of the two ministries is not more convergent, ”laments Antidia Citores. In fact, the latest prevention video clip to date was produced at the time of deconfinement and no word is given regarding the best practices to have when throwing away your surgical mask. At the time of publication of this article, neither the Ministry of Health nor that of the Ecological and Inclusive Transition answered our questions. However, it should be noted that a new clip dedicated specifically to used masks has been available on Twitter since May 15.

❌ Many of us see used masks thrown on the ground. However, it is simple to avoid this pollution by respecting the instructions⤵

Let's be # AllMobilized to:
✅ Preserve the environment
✅ Limit the spread of #COVID ー 19
✅ Protect the collection agents pic.twitter.com/hX60lU1257

Citizenship or the stick?

If CNRS researchers, including Jean-François Gérard, set up from the start of the health crisis "a group to work on the recycling and reprocessing of masks", many problems (decontamination of masks, maintenance of power reasonable filter) remain outstanding. "The best solution is to throw them out and it doesn't end up on the ground," insists the chemist.I'm not very optimistic, but we're going to have to get messages across and appeal to people's good citizenship. We wash our hands, we put on a mask to protect the other ... but by throwing it in the wild, we do the opposite! For its part, Surfrider "recommends favoring the use of reusable textile masks".

1 hour of jogging and again, I have not been photographed.
Some of our fellow citizens are disrespectful, irresponsible & of incredible selfish incivism!
I hope the govt will be sensitive to this new pollution!
My bill: https: //t.co/NqB8MSG31y#incivABILites pic.twitter.com/W9C1kbeYmP

And when civility shows its limits, there remains a last resort: the stick. Thus, the deputy LR of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Pauget deposited Monday a bill requesting a fine of 300 euros in the event of abandonment of sanitary mask on the ground. A law already prohibits throwing these trash in the street or in the middle of nature but the fine amounts, for the moment, to 68 euros.

Society

Deconfinement in Lyon: The metropolis calls for good citizenship to avoid the proliferation of used masks and gloves on the public highway

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• Environment
• Society
• Covid 19
• Coronavirus