One of the more surprising consequences of the global Covid-19 pandemic has been the affect it’s had on environment. Specifically, how mass quarantines have cleared up the air and water in major urban centers around the world, as human activity retreats indoors. I’ve heard more than one friend or acquaintance speak with a voice full of hope that these dramatic changes will continue once people slowly return to their regularly scheduled program.

I wish I could share their optimism.

The problem is that people may have changed their routines, but they haven’t changed their habits or relationship with waste just because they’re stuck inside most of the time. Unless the pandemic also leads to a major mental shift, once the world re-opens, we’ll be facing the same collective problems we always have. No corporate responsibility for their role in the waste chain, people’s tendency to litter (especially in places with strong waste management infrastructure), and a general mentality that although shared space may be ours to use, it is somehow not our job to care for it and keep it clean.

Case in point, the disposable mask. I was guilty of tearing through quite a few boxes of disposable masks in the beginning of the quarantine. I had my excuses: I was a new mom, exhausted and scared and I also assumed that the quarantines were temporary. Who needs a handmade, reusable mask for something that’s only going to last a few weeks right?

But those weeks stretched into months and here we are more than half way through 2020 and there’s no end in site. While I have several reusable masks now, I still think about those disposable masks all the time. Why?

Because I see them on my daily walks around the neighborhood. Not on people’s faces or in a trash can, where they belong, but on the ground; another category of litter to add to the already endless assortment.

Masks are a particularly disappointing kind of litter because their very nature discourages passers-by from simply picking them up and tossing them in the nearest bin. The fear of infection means they stay where they are unless or until the local municipal cleaning crew can come by. I’m no different. The photos included in this article show masks from my daily walk and I confess that I did not have the courage to pick them up like I would other kinds of litter.

So, my obvious appeal in this article is to ask everyone to wear reusable, washable cloth masks, OR if you have to use a disposable mask, please dispose of it properly. Let there be one last thing we have to clean out of clogged gutters and storm drains.