Coronavirus: Hongkongers have used 2 billion disposable masks since February, environmental group says, urging government to promote reusable variants
- Greeners Action surveyed 1,095 people and found that 92 per cent of respondents habitually wore disposable masks
- People may have misconceptions about the protection offered by reusable masks, environmental group’s officer says
Hongkongers have used 2 billion disposable masks since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a local green group has said, urging the government to issue guidelines to encourage the use of reusable variants.
Greeners Action surveyed 1,095 people and found that 92 per cent of respondents habitually wore disposable masks. More than half of them used seven to 10 disposable masks every week, while 7 per cent used 11 or more over the same period.
The environmental group extrapolated the numbers against Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population to calculate that 54 million masks are thrown away every week, and about 2 billion between February and November.
“If the government wants to promote the use of environment-friendly masks … it should set up some guidelines for the public to explain when and where reusable masks can be used,” Stanley Wong, senior public affairs officer of Greeners Action said at a press conference on Thursday.
He said the public might have some misconceptions about the protection offered by reusable masks, and noted that they were also more cost-effective in the long-run.
“According to our study of reusable masks in the market, they have almost the same level of filtration efficiency as disposable masks,” he said.