Helping the environment, one life at a time

The Ottauquechee River, as seen from East End Park in Woodstock, Vt. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Around the world, 129 billion single-use face masks are used each month, and 3 million are thrown out every minute. They’ve entangled wildlife and polluted waterways, and some marine animals have eaten them. 

That situation might look too big for any of us to make a positive impact. But we can each do something to minimize the damage of this pandemic-specific waste, if we ever have to dispose of a single-use mask. In short, when you throw one out, cut or remove the straps — which makes it harder for animals to be strangled in them. By doing so, you can make a difference, noted Maria Algarra, founder of Clean This Beach Up, an environmental organization in Miami Beach, Florida.

“The idea is to dispose of your mask properly, put it in the bin, but also remember to cut or rip off the straps. That will be saving so many lives,” Algarra said in a PBS NewsHour segment, which aired on Earth Day last week. 

Part of the issue is that, how to properly dispose of something is not a top priority for many people, according to Jenna Jambeck, of the University of Georgia. For example, someone who goes shopping with a single-use mask and gloves, may not know how they’re going to throw them out after their errand is done. That gap has a big impact on the environment over the past year. 

“It just really came to light, I think, through the PPE that we were wearing,” Jambeck told the NewsHour. 

That culture of waste is especially worrisome, when you combine it with a number like 129 billion of those single-use masks being used and discarded each month. However, that means, as a global community, we have billions of opportunities to do what’s right. If we ever have the need to pick up a single-use mask, we can know that cutting those straps before throwing them out can have a true, positive impact on the world’s precious creatures.

Furthermore, we can know we’re very much not alone in caring about such issues. Maria Algarra and Jenna Jambeck, from the PBS NewsHour piece, are involved in constant efforts to clean up and benefit the environment, and there are many more people working to protect our natural surroundings and the animals that depend on them. We support those initiatives when we engage in loving, thoughtful treatment of the world around us, and take steps to reduce harmful human impacts on wildlife. We can truly make a difference, one life at a time. 

— Gareth Henderson