Skip the disposable mask this Earth Day

It’s a scene all too familiar since last March: Like tumbleweeds rolling down the street, the omnipresent tossed or dropped light blue disposable face masks flapping in the wind or piling up in public trashcans are becoming a common sight in every town and city. 

It gets worse. Double worse.

Recent studies show that we use an astounding 129 billion face masks globally every month. That’s 3 million a minute. Most of these are disposable face masks made from plastic microfibers. That’s a problem.

These disposable masks are technically considered plastic products, so they can’t biodegrade and may fragment into smaller plastic particles that are becoming widespread in earth’s ecosystems. From sea creatures eating the plastic particles and dying, to land mammals like birds getting tangled up in the straps, it’s a dire situation – and sadly more than just an unsightly street scene.

Add to that the double-masking trend encouraging the use of two masks to stay safe, and we find ourselves adding more plastics to our landfills and oceans. If disposal masks are the only option you have, though, we don’t want to discourage or shame you from wearing them.

However, we do recommend that there are less costly and more environmentally friendly options out there—like our OCTO® Respirator Mask (ORM). Our elastomeric respirator mask offers a year-long lifespan and a decade of shelf life. It’s reusable and can be easily disinfected and sterilized. It also performs exponentially better than disposable face masks because the technology behind our filter is unmatched, allowing for more space and effortless breathing, and OCTO® Respirator Mask (ORM) even starts killing viruses and pathogens on contact.

Join us in our fight to keep everyone – including the environment and all the animals living here with us – safe.

Happy Earth Day from all of us at OCTO® !