(Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP via Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 2:15 PM PT – Sunday, December 27, 2020
The researchers believe that more than 1.5 billion face masks used this year may be heading for the ocean.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, the marine conservation organization ‘Oceans Asia’ has been monitoring destroyed masks on a remote island near Hong Kong.
They believe that these masks will create up to 6,000 tons of extra waste in our oceans. In addition, the group said that the thin plastic fibers that make up the masks can remain in the ocean for hundreds of years.
“1.56 billion face masks that entered our oceans in 2020 are there for the long term,” said Teale Bondaroff, Director of Research at ‘Oceans Asia’. “They will remain in our oceans for 450 years or more and will divide into smaller and smaller pieces.”
The organization asked people to use reusable masks as much as possible and to dispose of non-reusable masks responsibly.