Mask yes, but not just any mask

The second wave of Covid-19 arrived with a vengeance, including the need to continue protecting ourselves, especially with the new, more contagious variants of the virus appearing in different parts of the world. We’ll have to wear masks for a long time to come.

The problem is that the planet, which was already massively polluted before the pandemic, is filling up with Covid-19 trash. In Spain alone, an estimated 700 million masks have been used since the start of the health crisis almost a year ago, and less than 10% of them are reused. Globally, these total around 129 billion monthly, and many end up in streets, rivers, and seas. You’ve probably seen them on the road more than once. And according to Bloomberg, plastic consumption has increased significantly during the pandemic.

In this second stage, then, it’s good to remember that you have alternatives, and that a cloth one is always preferable because you can wash and reuse it. Most major brands have launched their own lines. Now, if we truly want to be sustainable, using only cloth isn’t enough; it’s much better to support businesses that provide jobs in their communities than to buy them in bulk. Made in Zurich, those by Julian Zigerli (Instagram: @julianzigerliofficial), for example, are super colorful, unisex, eye-catching, and sustainable, and you can order them online. And in Austria, the Mask Republic project is everything you could hope for in terms of sustainability and quality: two companies from that country teamed up to develop masks with higher filtration and created kits to be assembled later by local, unemployed tailors. Once assembled, the masks are sold and also distributed to NGOs to reach those in need.

Finally, you should already know that you can make them yourself, as there are plenty of tutorials on the web. Just make sure they follow the World Health Organization’s guidelines so they effectively protect you. And a fact: according to the New York Times, in addition to all the social distancing rules we already know, a good way to prevent infection in this new wave is to wear one mask over another to increase the layers of protection. And you can do this while maintaining style.