Express & Star

LETTER: Where will all the masks go?

A reader worries about the environmental impact of face masks being disposed of.

Published
Face masks are now a common sight across the world.

So now we all have to wear masks in shops, shouldn't this have been implemented at the start of this pandemic not as lockdown is slowly being lifted, horse and bolted comes to mind. Where will all this end, will we all be told that we can't leave our homes without wearing one, and shouldn't we be wearing reusable ones?

Where will all these disposable masks end up, probably in landfill or in the stomachs of sea creatures? Thousands of these masks and vinyl gloves have already been found floating in the Mediterranean sea, on the sea bed and washed up on beaches, they are are death sentence for dolphins whales turtles and other sea creatures, Would any of us like to swallow something like this that will block up our digestive system and cause a slow and painful death?

I suppose the next thing will be that we will all have to wear the vinyl gloves before we can go into a shop and you won't be able to pick anything up unless you intend to buy it. We are becoming a nanny state and our personal freedom is slowly being eroded, world governments have made us all paranoid.

No doubt I will be criticised for my views but I think we should look at the bigger picture and think about the creatures that have to live alongside us as well.

We are a throwaway society as the rubbish that was left on the beaches on mad Sunday proved. We should all take responsibility for our actions instead of just thinking about ourselves for once.

Ian Hunter, Willenhall

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