Aafrin Kidwai 
Disposable masks are quickly piling up across cities, posing a major challenge for waste management authorities. These items are not recycled since they are considered hazardous and are being stacked at dry waste collection centres in cities like Bengaluru.
Solid waste management (SWM) activists believe masks will only accumulate, becoming a health hazard in the process, and people should shift to reusable ones soon. Nalini Shekar, co-founder of Hasirudala, a Bengaluru-based NGO involved in SWM, said, “People have been throwing away disposable masks everywhere. Not only have they become a problem for waste pickers, but stray animals too have started chewing them.
Randeep D, special commissioner SWM, BBMP, told The Times of India, “Disposable masks can’t be recycled as they are hazardous. Masks have to be placed separately in bags and handed over as part of domestic hazardous waste (reject waste) along with sanitary waste. They will be sent to incinerators once the sanitary waste secondary collection and transport tender is finalised after approval of the health committee/council, probably by June.”
Picture Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_surgical_mask_(2017).jpg
