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Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Banning face masks?
At some point this year you probably wore a disposable face mask, you know, one of these white and blue things. And maybe you weren't aware what material these are made off. They feel a bit like tissue or cellulose, but in fact they are mostly polypropylene plastic. The plastic is spun into very fine fibers, which is then randomly stacked (the technical term is "non-woven") and heated just enough so that the fibers stick together and form something textile-like. So, what difference does it make that the masks are made from plastic? Well, polypropylene isn't bio-degradable. And with millions of people wearing disposable masks, a huge number of these masks get used, and some of them end up in the oceans.
Most people would agree that plastic waste in the oceans is a bad thing. However, the masks floating in the oceans reveal the craziness of the previous environmentalists approach to plastic waste. Up to now, plastic waste was deemed to be the fault of the producers of the plastic or plastic products; and the proposed solution was to ban those plastic products. Many countries have banned plastic straws, plastic bags, or similar disposable plastic items. Now suddenly the same people are surprisingly silent, and nobody is calling for a ban on face masks. Because it is pretty obvious that the positive effect of face masks far outweighs the negative effect of them floating in the oceans.
Even if you happen to live next to an ocean (few of us do), you probably didn't throw your disposable face mask into the water after use. If you think it through, it becomes obvious that the *use* of disposable plastic items isn't actually the problem, as long as the plastic waste is either recycled (preferably), or at least properly incinerated. Some well-meaning first world country banning disposable plastic items achieves exactly nothing in the fight to keep our oceans clean. The only way these first world disposable plastic items might potentially end up in an ocean involve some criminal activity, where somebody who is paid to properly dispose of the waste is instead shipping that waste elsewhere, where it is then dumped into the ocean instead of being treated.
While plastic gets a bad rep from environmentalists, it *does* have environmental benefits. As long as plastic is recycled, a plastic bottle for example is better for the environment than a glass bottle or an aluminum can. Glass and metal need a lot of energy to make, and are a lot heavier, thus producing more green house gas emissions on transport. Banning plastic, which sounds like an "easy" solution for the environment, thus has hidden environmental drawbacks. Promoting plastic recycling would be a far better idea for the environment. And if you don't want to see face masks or other plastic items floating in the oceans, you need to go after the criminals that make this happen, and help third world countries to improve on their environmental standards.
- posted by Tobold @ 9:48 AM Permanent Link
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I am more concerned about inhaling the plastic particles, to be honest. We are living with those things on our nose all day long.
Why is anyone other than a medical professional wearing a disposable mask in the first place? Do you wear disposable plastic socks? Masks are an item of clothing ffs! Buy half a dozen made of washable cloth and treat them like any other clothes you wear.
I have three black cotton masks supplied by my employer, a black and white checked mask I bought for myself, three with colorful designs my wife bought for me and another two that she made during the first lockdown.
I'd also mention that the difference in both comfort and effectiveness varies enormously so again, choose your masks like you'd choose your shoes or hats - get ones that fit well, are comfortable and fulfill the purpose they're meant for. You wouldn't keep wearing shoes that pinch or rub or leak or hats that fall down over your eyes. Why wear masks that aren't snug, comfy and good-looking?
I have three black cotton masks supplied by my employer, a black and white checked mask I bought for myself, three with colorful designs my wife bought for me and another two that she made during the first lockdown.
I'd also mention that the difference in both comfort and effectiveness varies enormously so again, choose your masks like you'd choose your shoes or hats - get ones that fit well, are comfortable and fulfill the purpose they're meant for. You wouldn't keep wearing shoes that pinch or rub or leak or hats that fall down over your eyes. Why wear masks that aren't snug, comfy and good-looking?
Like most overtures about pollution, banning plastic is a way for politicians to pretend they are tackling a problem while ignoring the largest contributors of said problem.
Large corporations are far and away the greatest source of plastic pollution. But yes let's ban straws at McDonalds and Starbucks and pretend we are saving the planet. Dont look at Coca Cola or Pepsi. They already have "please recycle" on the bottle. What more can they do right?
It's the same thing with climate change. Politicians and companies push the issue onto the everyday person by creating slogans and marketing campaigns asking us to monitor our carbon footprint. Never mind that fact companies produce 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions. No amount of average Joe's bicycling or riding the bus will counteract that.
Large corporations are far and away the greatest source of plastic pollution. But yes let's ban straws at McDonalds and Starbucks and pretend we are saving the planet. Dont look at Coca Cola or Pepsi. They already have "please recycle" on the bottle. What more can they do right?
It's the same thing with climate change. Politicians and companies push the issue onto the everyday person by creating slogans and marketing campaigns asking us to monitor our carbon footprint. Never mind that fact companies produce 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions. No amount of average Joe's bicycling or riding the bus will counteract that.
Plastic doesn't recycle all that well. Though maybe it would be possible to design some plastics that are easy to recycle, and impose taxes for using different ones.
If I had any political power I absolutely would ban disposable face masks- I strongly disagree that the benefit outweighs the harm.
The problem is that while the ideal is that plastic should be recycled, the process is expensive relative to just making new plastic and yields a lower quality output than what went in. The demand for recycled plastic is very low relative to the supply, so plastic gets stuck in landfills or shipped to developing nations where it ends up in landfills out of sight or in the ocean. Yes, you didn't toss it in the ocean directly, but that doesn't mean it didn't end up there.
Meanwhile, glass and metal, especially aluminum, recycle inexpensively and yield output on par with the original.
So, yes, doing things like banning plastic straws is often performative, but if you start watching how much plastic you discard every week and realize that almost none of it is recycled, you might still admit we have a problem.
Meanwhile, glass and metal, especially aluminum, recycle inexpensively and yield output on par with the original.
So, yes, doing things like banning plastic straws is often performative, but if you start watching how much plastic you discard every week and realize that almost none of it is recycled, you might still admit we have a problem.
My point is that concentrating on the 8 million tons of plastic inputs to the ocean would be far more effective than concentrating on the 270 million tons of plastic produced.
And it isn't true that "almost none of the plastic is recycled". In Belgium the recycling rate is 55%, and in the USA still 35%.
And it isn't true that "almost none of the plastic is recycled". In Belgium the recycling rate is 55%, and in the USA still 35%.
I'm old enough to remember when plastic grocery bags were introduced. At the time they were touted as the environmentally friendly option, as they mean fewer trees needed to be cut for paper and that under landfill conditions paper doesn't really biodegrade any faster than plastic does anyway and the plastic only takes up 1/7th the volume of paper bags, so the landfills wouldn't get full as quickly either.
Yes, this was when the current hyped environmental crisis was that we were gonna run out of landfill space and drown in our own garbage, so anything we could do the reduce landfill volume was "the best thing."
Yes, this was when the current hyped environmental crisis was that we were gonna run out of landfill space and drown in our own garbage, so anything we could do the reduce landfill volume was "the best thing."
Glass and metal last forever. My parents still use a glass jug that belong to my grandma 40+ years ago. You may get a higher (initial) carbon print but the glass/metal object will not wear off / tear / melt. A plastic container is much less durable, less hygienic, can't be boiled (saved some exceptions) and is prone to get scratched too, releasing plastic particles over time.
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