The Green Guide

There are more masks than jellyfish in the ocean!

Gareth Andrade is an 11-year-old student in Year 7 at The Winchester School who advocates for UN Sustainable Development Goal #14: Life Below Water. Since he was a little boy, he has been passionate about conserving sea animals, volunteering towards beach cleanups, being a conscious ecowarrior at home, at school and everywhere he goes. He and his brother launched the “Balloons Blow Don’t Let Them Go” campaign in Dubai, in November 2018, and since then he has collected thousands of pledges. Discarded disposable masks may risk spreading coronavirus to waste collectors, litter pickers or members of the public who first come across the litter. It is made of plastic, and plastics break down into smaller pieces over time, but they do not biodegrade.

Even worse, it’s harming animals, birds, and sea creatures!

Given the number of people still choosing a disposable mask rather than a reusable one, I am concerned about the profound impact on our environment. According to a study published in Environmental Science and Technology journal, an estimated 194 billion disposable masks and gloves are being used globally every month because of the coronavirus pandemic.

There is a surge in face masks and gloves littering the UAE beaches. My family and friends frequently drive to various emirates to spend some time on the beaches, and we found loads of single use plastic masks, amongst other rubbish, thus ended up cleaning the beach and disposing of the garbage so that it doesn’t pollute the oceans. This motivated our family to educate and support individuals and organizations to bring about behavior change responsibility.

The Green Guide encourages you to be responsible and switch to reusable face masks to prevent further pollution and harm to our planet. When you do that, you are ecowarriors for The Global Goals – SDG12 Responsible Consumption and Production.

#ZeroWasteChallenge Share a photo of you wearing a reusable face mask on this wall! https://padlet.com/96totald rop/zerowastechallenge