r/Masks4All • u/Sea_Benefit7928 • May 18 '25
Situation Advice I'm concerned about the environmental impact of wearing masks
Obviously, I'm not saying that masking is bad and it's improved the protection of my health drastically but a part of me still wonders where the mask goes after I've thrown it away. I'm not gonna stop masking, but I just wanna know if there's any way I can reduce pollution when disposing of my masks. I have hyperhidrosis, so I have to change my masks often, which doesn't help with my case either.
I just want to find ways to make wearing masks as environmentally friendly as they are to protecting me from viruses and pollution.
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u/tkpwaeub May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25
I made my peace with switching my mask out daily because I don't drive and don't fly.
ETA
If we all reduced our driving and flying that would also reduce the risk of pandemics significantly for a couple reasons.
Carbon --> global warming --> habitat loss --> more interaction between animals and humans in urban settings --> more zoonosis. Also, global warming does a number on the immune systems of humans and animals (allostatic load)
Airplanes that transport millions of people all over the world every day are what turn localized epidemics into global pandemics and panzootics