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The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the UK government mandated the use of face masks in various public settings and recommended the use of reusable masks to combat shortages of medically graded single-use masks in healthcare. To assist decision-making on the choice of masks for future pandem...

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Autores principales: Allison, Ayşe Lisa, Ambrose-Dempster, Esther, Bawn, Maria, Arredondo, Miguel Casas, Chau, Charnett, Chandler, Kimberley, Dobrijevic, Dragana, Aparasi, Teresa Domenech, Hailes, Helen C., Lettieri, Paola, Liu, Chao, Medda, Francesca, Michie, Susan, Miodownik, Mark, Munro, Beth, Purkiss, Danielle, Ward, John M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: UCL Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208332/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37228803
http://dx.doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000022
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author Allison, Ayşe Lisa
Ambrose-Dempster, Esther
Bawn, Maria
Arredondo, Miguel Casas
Chau, Charnett
Chandler, Kimberley
Dobrijevic, Dragana
Aparasi, Teresa Domenech
Hailes, Helen C.
Lettieri, Paola
Liu, Chao
Medda, Francesca
Michie, Susan
Miodownik, Mark
Munro, Beth
Purkiss, Danielle
Ward, John M.
author_facet Allison, Ayşe Lisa
Ambrose-Dempster, Esther
Bawn, Maria
Arredondo, Miguel Casas
Chau, Charnett
Chandler, Kimberley
Dobrijevic, Dragana
Aparasi, Teresa Domenech
Hailes, Helen C.
Lettieri, Paola
Liu, Chao
Medda, Francesca
Michie, Susan
Miodownik, Mark
Munro, Beth
Purkiss, Danielle
Ward, John M.
author_sort Allison, Ayşe Lisa
collection PubMed
description During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the UK government mandated the use of face masks in various public settings and recommended the use of reusable masks to combat shortages of medically graded single-use masks in healthcare. To assist decision-making on the choice of masks for future pandemics, where shortages may not be a contributing factor, the University College London (UCL) Plastic Waste Innovation Hub has carried out a multidisciplinary comparison between single-use and reusable masks based on their anatomy, standalone effectiveness, behavioural considerations, environmental impact and costs. Although current single-use masks have a higher standalone effectiveness against bacteria and viruses, studies show that reusable masks have adequate performance in slowing infection rates of respiratory viruses. Material flow analysis (MFA), life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost comparison show that reusable masks have a lower environmental and economic impact than single-use masks. If every person in the UK uses one single-use mask each day for a year, it will create a total of 124,000 tonnes of waste, 66,000 tonnes of which would be unrecyclable contaminated plastic waste (the masks), with the rest being the recyclable packaging typically used for transportation and distribution of masks. Using reusable masks creates >85% less waste, generates 3.5 times lower impact on climate change and incurs 3.7 times lower costs. Further behavioural research is necessary to understand the extent and current practices of mask use; and how these practices affect mask effectiveness in reducing infection rates. Wearing single-use masks may be preferred over reusable masks due to perceptions of increased hygiene and convenience. Understanding behaviour towards the regular machine-washing of reusable masks for their effective reuse is key to maximise their public health benefits and minimise environmental and economic costs.
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spelling pubmed-102083322023-05-24 The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks Allison, Ayşe Lisa Ambrose-Dempster, Esther Bawn, Maria Arredondo, Miguel Casas Chau, Charnett Chandler, Kimberley Dobrijevic, Dragana Aparasi, Teresa Domenech Hailes, Helen C. Lettieri, Paola Liu, Chao Medda, Francesca Michie, Susan Miodownik, Mark Munro, Beth Purkiss, Danielle Ward, John M. UCL Open Environ Research Article During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the UK government mandated the use of face masks in various public settings and recommended the use of reusable masks to combat shortages of medically graded single-use masks in healthcare. To assist decision-making on the choice of masks for future pandemics, where shortages may not be a contributing factor, the University College London (UCL) Plastic Waste Innovation Hub has carried out a multidisciplinary comparison between single-use and reusable masks based on their anatomy, standalone effectiveness, behavioural considerations, environmental impact and costs. Although current single-use masks have a higher standalone effectiveness against bacteria and viruses, studies show that reusable masks have adequate performance in slowing infection rates of respiratory viruses. Material flow analysis (MFA), life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost comparison show that reusable masks have a lower environmental and economic impact than single-use masks. If every person in the UK uses one single-use mask each day for a year, it will create a total of 124,000 tonnes of waste, 66,000 tonnes of which would be unrecyclable contaminated plastic waste (the masks), with the rest being the recyclable packaging typically used for transportation and distribution of masks. Using reusable masks creates >85% less waste, generates 3.5 times lower impact on climate change and incurs 3.7 times lower costs. Further behavioural research is necessary to understand the extent and current practices of mask use; and how these practices affect mask effectiveness in reducing infection rates. Wearing single-use masks may be preferred over reusable masks due to perceptions of increased hygiene and convenience. Understanding behaviour towards the regular machine-washing of reusable masks for their effective reuse is key to maximise their public health benefits and minimise environmental and economic costs. UCL Press 2021-08-25 /pmc/articles/PMC10208332/ /pubmed/37228803 http://dx.doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000022 Text en © 2021 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Allison, Ayşe Lisa
Ambrose-Dempster, Esther
Bawn, Maria
Arredondo, Miguel Casas
Chau, Charnett
Chandler, Kimberley
Dobrijevic, Dragana
Aparasi, Teresa Domenech
Hailes, Helen C.
Lettieri, Paola
Liu, Chao
Medda, Francesca
Michie, Susan
Miodownik, Mark
Munro, Beth
Purkiss, Danielle
Ward, John M.
The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks
title The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks
title_full The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks
title_fullStr The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks
title_full_unstemmed The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks
title_short The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks
title_sort impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the uk: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208332/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37228803
http://dx.doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000022
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