When our mail-ordered disposable masks finally arrived last month, I was really excited.  While we were waiting, I’d cut up some pillow-cases to make face masks for myself and my family. But I’m not much of a seamstress and don’t have a sewing machine.  So it was slow going.  And they’re hot. And they steam up my glasses.

Now at last we can keep a box of disposable masks in the car ready for use whenever we go shopping. Oh the convenience!  But its a convenience that comes with a cost.

According to  The Guardian (uk) “Conservationists have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could spark a surge in ocean pollution – adding to a glut of plastic waste that already threatens marine life – after finding disposable masks floating like jellyfish and waterlogged latex gloves scattered across seabeds.”

A French organization, Opération Mer Propre, that conducts beach cleanups reported in June that they were regularly finding them in the water off the Côte d’Azur.  On learning that France had just ordered 2 billion more masks,  Laurent Lombard, a founder of the organization, posted:  “Knowing that more than 2 billion disposable masks have been ordered, soon there is likely to be more masks than jellyfish in Mediterranean waters…!” He’s shared video footage  of what they’ve been finding

Nearer home, CBC reports these masks and other disposable personal protective equipment are getting into waste water streams, clogging sewers: “Whether they’re wipes, whether they’re masks, whether they’re rubber gloves, all of those things can’t be treated in the sewage system and, in fact, damage our equipment,” said Jerry Dobrovolny, chief administrative officer for Metro Vancouver.”

The report also mentions that a group at the University of British Columbia are  developing compostable alternatives made from wood fibre. But it will be a while before they get past the prototype phase. Having compostable masks for healthcare workers who need disposable to stay safe would reduce the environmental damage pandemic plastic will do. So in the meantime my choices are cloth or non-compostable disposables. Can I really justify the waste I’d be generating just for the convenience factor?  Waste that may harm present and future generations of human and animals life?

This is a question most ethical theorists would answer in the same way (though not always for the same reasons); whether their systems of values are anthropocentric (human-centered), biocentric (life-centered), or  ecocentric (ecosystem centered.) They all condemn gratuitous harm; even if they disagree about the kinds of beings that can be subject to harm.

We will explore their different rationales in this course.  But since none of them would let me off the hook on this one, I’d better try to get used to reusable cloth masks.