- This Friday, the Cleanwalk.org platform is launching its #NoMaskInTheOcean operation, an invitation to pick up everywhere in France the masks and gloves found on the ground.
- Eric Pauget, LR deputy for the Alpes-Maritimes, put him on the establishment of a fine of 300 euros to sanction these incivilities, and has tabled a bill to this effect.
- Solutions are also to be sought in the field of prevention and anticipation, call the NGO Surfrider or the Tara Ocean Foundation. And it is sometimes played on details.
#NoMaskInTheOcean. Will this hashtag be among the most used over the next four days on social networks? This is all the hope in any case of Baptiste Frelot, co-founder of Cleanwalk.org, a platform launched at the end of June 2019 to allow associations to publicize the waste collection operations they organize and to mobilize participants.
In nine months, 740 operations were referenced on the platform. A rhythm stopped clearly since mid-March and the beginning of confinement. "This #NoMaskinTheOcean campaign then marks a bit of a comeback," says Baptiste Frelot, who set up this operation with the Lakaa start-ups, which supports companies in the organization of actions with positive impact, and R-Pur, manufacturer anti-pollution masks. Between this Friday, World Environment Day, and next Monday, World Ocean Day, everywhere in France, they invite to pick up the surgical masks found on the ground to throw them in the trash. All while being photographed and sharing this moment on social networks with the hashtag mentioned above.
Sustainable in the top 10 most collected waste
"The gray bin, that of non-recyclable waste," insists Baptiste Frelot, to recall the only possible destination for surgical masks. "We ask collectors to be very careful and to respect all barrier gestures," he continues. Wear gloves and a mask during the operation, wash your hands once the challenge has been completed, and do not gather more than ten [rule in force until June 21 at least]. "
The symbol of the post-Covid world? Until then, the great classics of waste collected in these voluntary collections were, in order, "butts, plastic scraps, polystyrene, plastic bags", list Antidia Citores, spokesperson for the NGO Surfrider foundation Europe. Masks and other plastic waste linked to the Covid-19 health crisis should shake up this ranking. Videos and photos showing masks littering the public thoroughfare and the coastlines abound in any case on social networks. "Not only," says Antidia Citores. At the end of May, divers from the "Operation Clean Sea" association already found surgical masks and latex gloves in the bay of Golfe Juan. "
"Betting on people's civility is not enough"
Just a start? Very probable. In early April, Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, said he expected "that the coronavirus epidemic will lead to a change in health behaviors in France, where the wearing of masks by the general public has not been widespread until now " The government ensures in any case its availability in number, by promising 200 million masks per week since the start of deconfinement, including 100 million for the general public. The vast majority of surgical masks to be thrown away after four hours of use, neither biodegradable [because containing polypropylene], nor recyclable at present. "This is the whole problem," notes Henri Bourgeois Costat, expert in circular economy, in charge of plastic advocacy at the Tara Ocean Foundation. Once again, we put a new single-use plastic on the market without having anticipated its end of life, without having given ourselves the means to collect 100% of used masks. Relying only on civic citizenship is not enough. "
Voluntary waste collection operations can alleviate ill will by supplementing the cleaning of public spaces carried out by communities. Like Cleanwalk.org, Surfrider foundation Europe, which usually organizes 1,500 continent-wide waste cleaning operations each year [which has also been interrupted since mid-March], is considering reviving the machine as quickly as possible. "We are in the process of developing a new protocol for these collections, in order to adapt it to the health context," explains Antidia Citores. But the stake of these operations is not only to collect waste in the nature, it is also and especially to count them and to index them, to then clarify the public decisions. We are updating our digital application - marinelitterdebris - to integrate the new categories of waste linked to the health crisis. This version should be available on Monday. "
A fine of 300 euros for a mask on the ground?
Eric Pauget, for his part, wants to play on another, more radical string. The deputy LR of the Alpes Maritimes simply proposes to raise the ceiling of the fines. "It is now 68 euros for throwing litter on public roads, I propose to bring the amount to 300 euros for masks and gloves," he explains. See that we can propose a community service sentence for those caught in the act. In a recycling center for example, or with municipal officials in charge of cleanliness. The deputy tabled a bill to this effect in late May, "widely co-signed by colleagues," he said. But to anticipate the long legislative journey which opens, Eric Pauget also wrote to Christophe Castaner, Minister of the Interior, "asking him to increase this amount of fines by regulatory means, which would make it possible to go much more quickly. "
Excessive? Eric Pauget intends to deal with the emergency "in the face of this new pollution which should increase in the coming weeks, with the gradual return to work, the reopening of educational establishments, the departure on vacation". On the NGO side, we say that we would rather bet on the pedagogy and stigmatization of people who throw their masks anywhere rather than on an increase in the ceiling of fines. "In any case, there is not enough police in France to enforce this law," points out Baptiste Frelot.
Put more emphasis on fabric masks?
Collection or fine, the limit of these measures is not to act directly on the reduction of single-use plastic waste. Surfrider foundation Europe, like the Tara Ocean Foundation, also wants to influence prevention upstream. And it is not limited to masks, but also to gloves, wipes, films and other single-use plastic packaging. "Since the beginning of the health crisis, we have noticed an increase in the consumption of these objects, in a kind of sanitary reflex maintained by the manufacturers who claim this material safer, regrets Henri Bourgeois Costat. This is however not the case, it is even rather the reverse according to certain studies * which evaluated at 72 hours the lifespan of the coronavirus on plastic against 24 hours on cardboard. "
With this in mind, Surfrider asks the government to add elements on waste prevention in each health message it regularly sends to French people. “Or even, quite simply, that these instructions are illustrated not with single-use surgical masks, but with tissue masks, which have the advantage of being reusable while meeting Afnor standards, illustrates Antidia Citores . Similarly, the technical sheets which detail, for each profession, the instructions for returning to the office, often recommend that employees bring their containers for drinking or eating. The deposit is sometimes illustrated by a plastic bottle. Too bad. Why not put a thermos or a gourd ”
In the coming months, the state will not escape the question of having to replenish a strategic stock of masks either. "We can very well imagine that at least part of this stock is made up of fabric masks," continues Antidia Citores. "And by imagining devices that would improve their collection," adds Henri Bourgeois Costa. A deposit system, for example. "
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* Work carried out by scientists from several universities and American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in mid-March in the scientific journal New England Journal of Medicine.
- Pollution
- Collection
- Plastic
- Waste
- Coronavirus
- Planet