“More masks than jellyfish“, “The new plastic bottle?“, “150 tonnes of waste“, and “A New bread of plastic pollution” are just some of the latest headlines on the detrimental affects of single use face masks on our environment.

In case you somehow haven’t heard the news or witnessed the growing funky coloured facial attire that the general public are wearing: as of the 24th July, face masks were, and are still, compulsory to wear in shops in the UK.

The face coverings we were advised not to buy at the beginning of lockdown, so that there was enough PPE to go round for medical staff, are now mandatory for us to wear on our weekly food shops. But we still don’t need to deplete the NHS’ supplies, or produce ridiculous amounts of single use plastic waste that is just another thing to pollute our oceans – get a reusable one. I have you, can too.

I bought mine from Wiltshire Masks as this is a great time to support independent business who are hand making them– I’d like to encourage you to do the same (there are so many on Instagram so take a look).

I know that some people are still hesitant to wear them because they are uncomfortable or they are worried they are conforming to some bizarre government scheme after convincing themselves of some conspiracy theory but it’s worth it for the possibility that this will prevent the spread of Covid— even if the scientists are wrong, the worst we have to do is wear a mask for a short period of our day.

I have to admit, I only started wearing a mask when it became compulsory. I think this was due to the stigma around mask wearers looking paranoid and I was worried it would make me feel claustrophobic and anxious. I’ve found that those worries were silly and I’ve has zero issues with my masks.

Are face masks the new normal? Yes, so why not just accept it and if you can, get hold of a reusable mask to save our oceans as well as ourselves from this virus.

*However, there are those with health condition that excuses them from wearing masks so we need to make sure not to shame those who aren’t wearing them as we don’t know their story. There are many hidden disabilities or reasons why one may not be wearing a mask*