TOAt first it was impossible to find them except at crazy prices, or after hours of queuing in front of pharmacies. And now, instead, the masks have become so many that they want to burn them.
The masks will be burned
It’s this one the end that 218 million masks will do, purchased in 2020 by the then head of the coronavirus emergency facility, Domenico Arcuri. Then to be distributed to Regions, Municipalities and schools.
The point, however, is that it is, for one part of the famous non-certified masks, for another part of those that were not requested. And, for another part, of those that have been sent back because they were deemed useless.
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An operation that costs almost 700 thousand euros
And therefore, after having tried in vain to sell them, Commissioner Figliuolo commissioned A2a Recycling, waste and residue treatment companies, for disposal and destruction. Only a small part of the material will be recoverable for recycling through the treatment plants. The rest, that is the fabric, will go to the waste-to-energy plants to be burned. An operation that costs almost 700 thousand euros.
Since April 2021, the 218 million, which moreover weigh 2500 tons, were kept in the various deposits managed by SDA between the North and the Center at a cost of approximately 313 thousand euros per month. The commissioner structure, as mentioned before, has decided to put them on the market.
But, from two market surveys to understand if there were companies available to buy them, no one replied. And therefore the only solution left is to burn them, paying to destroy what now represents nothing more than an accumulation of paper and plastic material.
Masks, the danger to the environment
The impact on the environment of a disposal inaccurate and careful of the masks, which, for almost three years have become life partners, sheltering us from Covid, is disastrous. In 2020, our oceans were inundated with about 1.56 billion masks, according to the National Federation of the Orders of Doctors Fnomceoleft for its analysis from data from OceansAsia, an organization for marine conservation.
And if during the emergency, it was certainly not an urgent concern that those security tools could become pollutants. Now, on the contrary, that worry has become an urgency.
The most serious problem is that, once thrown away, they do not vanish. Masks, gloves and wipes are made with multiple plastic fibers mainly polypropylene, which remains in the environment for decades, if not centuries, fragmenting into ever smaller micro and nanoplastics. A single mask can release 173,000 microfibers into the sea per day according to a study published in Environmental Advances.
It is clear that it certainly does not represent the largest amount of plastic in the worldbut the large number spread throughout the world, however, makes it a problem to be solved quickly.
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