What do we often see when we go out under the epidemic that the whole world is fighting? Yes, this is a mask. Wearing a mask to travel has become a standard for everyone. In our publicity, wearing a mask is a kind of responsibility to ourselves and others. What is clear here is that wearing a mask is definitely true. If not everyone insisted on wearing a mask every day, the epidemic prevention and control in China could not have achieved such good results, but the question is, where should I put the mask after use?

Most people's daily masks are disposable medical masks, which should be thrown away after one day at most. Qualified people may throw them into the trash can, while some relatively careless people may throw away the used masks casually. What they don't know is that these discarded masks will cause great damage to the natural environment.

Masks that people throw away at will have done harm to wild animals. There are billions of people all over the world, and there may be hundreds of millions of masks thrown away every day. At present, these discarded masks have really affected the lives of animals. In Britain, it was found that discarded masks affected the normal flight of seagulls, and the straps on the masks helped the seagulls' feet. If rescuers don't find them, seagulls may never take off. In Malaysia, some wild monkeys eat masks discarded by others out of curiosity, which will have a great impact on their health. Not only that, discarded masks will be degraded by soil, but some chemicals in them are not degradable. Over time, these harmful substances will eventually return to the human body in a series of ways. What human beings throw away eventually damages themselves, not nature.

How to protect the environment?

It is impossible to protect the environment without wearing a mask in such a tense anti-epidemic situation. All we can do is get rid of the discarded masks. Used masks should be thrown into the trash can, not casually. For a large number of discarded masks, relevant departments must also do a good job of destroying them and dispose of them in the most environmentally friendly way to protect the environment. The epidemic situation is what human beings need to fight, so why not fight the epidemic situation while protecting the environment? Experts pointed out that if these discarded masks are not handled in time, they will eventually have an irreparable impact on nature. People keep saying that they want to protect the environment, but they can't even do the simple thing of properly disposing of discarded masks. What a kind of sadness this is!