Around 1.6 billion disposable masks ended in the ocean last year, causing a massive pile of floating plastic waste that threatens marine life.
Namely, Visual Capitalist researchers discovered that about 3% of the 52 billion single-use masks that had been manufactured to prevent Covid-19 infection ended up into the seas.
These masks are mostly manufactured using polypropylene that breaks up into microplastics, which are later consumed by birds and aquatic animals, impacting their digestive systems.
This prompted an ecologist to say that soon the number of masks in the oceans will overtake the number of jellyfish.
However, with the Delta variant surging across the world, there is no hope that the need for masks will be gone soon.
