In a pandemic situation, the caring attitude of the Malaysian community is very much needed. It is essential to protect oneself but caring for the wellbeing of others is also important. In the current situation, we can see that most Malaysians are doing their best to adhere to the new normal and norms. Wearing a face mask, stay at home for those with Covid-19 symptoms, maintaining hygiene, complying with the movement control orders, honest in providing information related to personal health and complying with quarantine order could be regarded as indicators of Malaysians’ concern for each other.
Truly, caring attitude has benefits in the context of human relationship. However, maintaining human relationship is not the only thing that matters to us. We also need to have a sense of concern for the plight of our nature in the current pandemic situation. Uncaring attitude, such as throwing face mask carelessly, will harm the environment.
One of the negative effects of this Covid-19 pandemic is the increase in medical waste. World Health Organization (WHO) classified medical waste as waste from medical activities. Fifteen per cent of this waste is classified as hazardous that may be infectious, toxic or containing radioactive substances. Used face masks are one of the medical waste that has the potential to spread the disease if not managed properly.
Starting August 1, 2020, wearing a face mask at the public area is mandatory. This regulation will spike the use of face mask. Dr. Theng Lee Chong, an expert in waste management, points out that roughly 10 million disposable face masks are being used in Malaysia daily. The number will increase when the government mandates its use.
People have the option to use reusable fabric face masks. However, surgical face masks have better filtration efficiency thus more effective in protecting users from Covid-19 virus. Therefore, we will continue to depend on surgical face masks at this moment. Unfortunately, surgical face masks are partly made of a plastic material known as polypropylene. It takes about 450 years for the surgical mask to decompose and will remain in the environment for a long time.
Therefore, there is a significant concern about the effect of the face mask on the environment. Gary Stokes, director of a non-governmental organization (NGO) called OceanAsia – focusing on research and data collection on plastic waste at the ocean and the coastal area – produced a short video showing some of the used face masks he collected along the coast of Soko Island, Hong Kong. In the video, Stokes mentioned that he managed to collect around 70 used face mask, within 100 meters along the beach. It is a piece of clear evidence that used face masks will end up in the ocean if carelessly dumped. In the end, the environment will suffer the consequences.
Meanwhile, an article entitled “More Mask than Jellyfish,” published by an online magazine called The Guardian, reports some of the activities of a French NGO named Opération Mer Propre. This NGO has been involved in sea and beach cleaning activities along the coast of Côte d’Azur. In recent activities, they found a lot of used face masks, gloves and small hand sanitizer bottles on the ocean floor. This NGO has started attracting the attention of various parties to this problem since the end of last May.
According to the article, in France alone, the authorities have ordered about two billion disposable face masks. If face masks are not properly disposed of, in the end, it would pollute the environment mainly the coastal areas and oceans.
Used face mask pollution is very worrying because at this moment we are indeed facing the problem of plastic pollution. According to the UNEP 2018 report, currently, 13 million tons of plastic has ended up in the ocean. With a long shelf life of 450 years, it will remain in nature and eventually damage the environment.
We need to take this issue seriously. The inappropriate disposal of used face masks should be brought to an end because it will eventually damage the environment. It will block the waterways and will cause flash floods. It will also kill sea animals as some animals would confuse it as their food, it will also ruin the aesthetic value of an area and so on. Not only that, but we should also consider the impact on humans as the transmission of Covid-19 epidemic may get serious if the face mask is not disposed of properly.
Caring about others is a basic human instinct. In Islam, caring for others is considered as one of the branches of Iman (faith). In a hadith, Rasulullah SAW mentioned about the branches of faith and the lowest faith is the removal of harm from the street (Hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim). A person could only do such noble behaviour if he or she is concern towards other people. Apart from human beings, human concern for nature is also indispensable. In a hadith, Rasulullah SAW urged that we should be kind in slaughtering animals and this is an indication that we should be concerned about the welfare of animals as animals are part of nature (Hadith Narrated by Muslim).
Therefore, be concerned about the effect of face masks to the environment. Never throw face masks recklessly but instead throw them in a proper way and place.