Democrats rave about how much they care about the environment.
And their precious green energy to save the planet.
But they also have been the staunchest supporters of face diapers in America.
And the nasty environmental effects of nonstop mask wearing are coming to fruition.
Just look at what was discovered in the Philippines:
Today on BBC News… Divers find Philippine coral reef littered with blue surgical face masks (the single-use ones popular during the Covid-19 pandemic). https://t.co/eY8jqfHtGQ THREAD 1/10 pic.twitter.com/CPwQEJR0ah
— Howard Johnson (@Howardrjohnson) March 9, 2021
And it’s not just in the Philippines, mask garbage is everywhere:
Lets beat plastic pollution!
Our Ocean will be flooded with an estimated 1.56 billion face masks in 2020. Masks will take as long as 450 years to break down, slowly turning into micro plastics while negatively impacting marine wildlife and ecosystems.— Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) March 5, 2021
It’s been a problem since the COVID-19 pandemic began: disposal face masks are ending up on sidewalks, in parks, in the street – and ultimately in landfills. But a Winnipeg school wants to change all that. https://t.co/gGHVjkAOy2
— CityNews Winnipeg (@CityNewsWPG) March 3, 2021
”Single-use face masks generate significant waste. In a July report, the UN called the influx of single-use masks a “toxic problem” and estimated that 75% of used masks and other pandemic-related waste will end up in landfills or floating in the oceans.”https://t.co/tPwDj0J9r5
— Anne-Mari Kiviniemi (@amkivi) March 4, 2021
Making billions of #facemask with no plan what happens to them after (used to be considered #medical #waste) is resulting in 1.5 billion of them in the #oceans in 2020 alone. We will be drinking eating and breathing in parts of them for the next 450 years.https://t.co/PhqcXjqvC6
— Moving Back From Midnight 🌏🌲🌿🌱🐠🐾🐄🐖♻️Ⓥ (@movingbackfrom) March 6, 2021
This isn’t a pro or anti mask post: Billions rely on a clean and healthy marine eco system for their livelihoods, this is concerning. I hope the market fixes this. COVID-19 Facemasks & Marine Plastic Pollution – OCEANS ASIA https://t.co/Lcxfjypnz9
— Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) March 2, 2021
Oceans Asia detailed the environmental devastation:
Our oceans will be flooded with an estimated 1.56 billion face masks in 2020 says a report released today by Hong-Kong-based marine conservation organization OceansAsia. This will result in an additional 4,680 to 6,240 metric tonnes of marine plastic pollution, says the report, entitled “Masks on the Beach: The Impact of COVID-19 on Marine Plastic Pollution.” These masks will take as long as 450 years to break down, slowly turning into micro plastics while negatively impacting marine wildlife and ecosystems.
The report used a global production estimate of 52 billion masks being manufactured in 2020, a conservative loss rate of 3%, and the average weight of 3 to 4 grams for a single-use polypropylene surgical face mask to arrive at the estimate.
“The 1.56 billion face masks that will likely enter our oceans in 2020 are just the tip of the iceberg,” says Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Director of Research for OceansAsia, and lead author of the report. “The 4,680 to 6,240 metric tonnes of face masks are just a small fraction of the estimated 8 to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic that enter our oceans each year.”
Plastic consumption, which has been steadily rising for years, increased significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hygiene concerns and greater reliance on take-away food has led to increased use of plastics, particularly plastic packaging,” says Gary Stokes, Director of Operations of OceansAsia. “Meanwhile, a number of measures designed to reduce plastic consumption, like single-use plastic bag bans, have been delayed, paused, or rolled back.”
The use of PPE, in particular face masks, has become a common tool used in preventing the spread of the virus, with many jurisdictions mandating the wearing of masks in public. The production of PPE has expanded in an attempt to meet skyrocketing demand, and PPE waste has also increased dramatically.
Single-use face masks are made from a variety of meltblown plastics and are difficult to recycle due to both composition and risk of contamination and infection. They enter oceans when they are littered, when waste management systems are inadequate or non-existent, or when these systems become overwhelmed due to increased volumes of waste.
“Marine plastic pollution is devastating our oceans,” says Gary Stokes, Operations Director of OceansAsia. “Plastic pollution kills an estimated 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, over a million seabirds, and even greater numbers of fish, invertebrates and other animals each year. It also negatively impacts fisheries and the tourism industry, and costs the global economy an estimated $13 billion USD per year.”
Summit News also provided commentary:
While the media and groups like the World Economic Forum have have hailed the impact of lockdown, celebrating it for reducing CO2 emissions and creating “quieter cities,” the real environmental impact has gone largely unreported.
“Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is washing up on coral reefs close to the Philippine capital, Manila,” reports BBC News. “According to an estimate by the Asian Development Bank, during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak, the city could have been generating up to 280 tonnes of extra medical waste per day.”
Divers from Anilao Scuba Dive Centre explained how they studied the coral reef after the country’s initial lockdown and found that it was littered with masks and PPE.
“Just ten minutes into the dive, we saw around 10-12 masks and we never had that before,” said one of the divers.
Trash collected by the divers included lots of blue single use face masks in addition to face shields and other COVID-19 related junk.
According to the report, the masks will end up either in a landfill or back in the sea.
“And that’s a problem because polymers inside the surgical masks are breaking down into microplastics, easily consumed by marine wildlife and the coral reefs that nurture them,” said the reporter.
Divers say what they have seen in terms of masks littering the ocean is “the tip of the iceberg.”
As we highlighted back in December, a report by OceansAsia concluded that around 1.5 billion face masks will be dumped into the sea and further contaminate the oceans with harmful plastic and damage vulnerable marine ecosystems.
“Marine plastic pollution kills 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, over a million seabirds, and even greater numbers of fish, invertebrates, and other marine life,” states the report, noting that penguins in Brazil have been found dead with masks inside their stomach.
And have any Democrats said a word about the real environmental impact of their incessant dependence on face diapers?
I surely haven’t heard anyone say a word.
They don’t care about the real damage to the environment and once again show their true colors as power-hungry hypocrites.
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