The campaign hopes to help stop the astonishing impact single use masks having on our planet.
From today, The Sun’s readers will be able to recycle their masks in 488 Morrisons supermarkets across the country in special branded bins, provided by ReWorked, a company that specialise in the collection and recycling of harder to handle materials such as masks.
Leading experts have warned Britain will suffer a generation of environmental damage that could go on beyond our lifetimes, because of people throwing away millions of Covid masks, as new statistics show more than 100 million single-use masks are thrown away each week.
Up to 1,500 tonnes of plastic a month ends up in landfill, where it will take an estimated 450 years to decompose, but more worryingly a large amount of masks are dropped on the ground and end up in our woods, beaches, rivers and seas affecting the ecosystem and wildlife which will wreak havoc on our environment for years to come.
Victoria Newton, editor-in-chief of The Sun said: “We’ve launched ‘Mask force’ to help Sun readers in their goal to become more green after they told us their fears about the impact we’re having on our planet and environment. We wanted to create an easy and affordable way for Sun readers to make everyday changes in their lives which will benefit the planet and help stop the damage masks are causing to the environment. Masks are still absolutely necessary to help control the spread of coronavirus and we encourage people to keep wearing them, but we are seeing a worrying rise in recyclable masks and PPE being dumped and ending up on our great British beaches and in rural areas, destroying the landscape as well as hurting wildlife.
“As well as launching ‘Mask force’, we’ll also be running a series of articles and features from experts about the impact masks have had on our planet, helping our readers to digest and understand the issues around PPE and plastics.”
‘Mask force’ has been backed by Lucie Donlan, Bear Grylls, Gaby Roslin, Jeremy Clarkson, Ben Fogle, and Dr Ranj as well as RSPCA, SeaLife, City To The Sea and The Wildlife Trusts.
