Table 1.
Face mask use and the estimated waste they generate due to the Covid pandemic in selected countriesa.
| Country | Population (million) | Total mask use (Million Units) |
Estimated waste production from face masks (Millions MT)b |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per Day | Per Person | Per 30 Days | Per 30 Days Per Person | ||
| South Africa | 5.9 | 31.8 | 5.39 | 3510 | 595.0 |
| France | 65.3 | 42.8 | 0.66 | 4728 | 72.4 |
| Iran | 84 | 51.1 | 0.61 | 5638 | 67.1 |
| Ukraine | 43.7 | 24.1 | 0.55 | 2665 | 61.0 |
| Kazakhstan | 18.8 | 8.7 | 0.46 | 962 | 51.2 |
| Indonesia | 273.5 | 122.5 | 0.45 | 13,528 | 49.6 |
| Nigeria | 206.1 | 85.8 | 0.42 | 9468 | 46.0 |
| Philippines | 109.6 | 41.2 | 0.38 | 4549 | 41.5 |
| Bangladesh | 164.7 | 51.4 | 0.31 | 5672 | 34.5 |
| India | 1380 | 386.4 | 0.28 | 42,659 | 30.9 |
| Pakistan | 220.9 | 61.8 | 0.28 | 6828 | 30.9 |
a
Information adapted from Nzediegwu and Chang (2020).
b
Assumed 3.68 g waste from a single-use face mask with packaging material (from Allison et al. (2020).