– We cannot have a winter with floating masks

Even in the middle of a quiet Christmas, bandages are strewn across sidewalks and stalls. – People just have to fine-tune, is Sporveien’s message.

It wasn’t long after we started wearing face masks until the alarm went off at Hold Norge Rent. The association that works against garbage received reports for the first time from public transport in Oslo. Then they ran from much of the country:

People threw the blue squares on the ground.

– It was most obvious when people left the bus, the tram and the train. But they eventually got scattered outside of malls, stores and other places where we wear masks, says the association’s leader, Lise Gulrandsen.

Now, several months after the problem received some publicity, you must claim that it has not improved much. Although much less people travel to the city center.

– We really thought this would happen. But we have also thought that before. That people cannot continue like this.

In particular, he thought that the whale that was found littered with garbage would be a wake-up call.

– But you still see a mask for almost every other step. Even if something is probably due to an accident, there is no doubt that someone is simply getting rid of them. And no one wants to lift someone else’s microphone.

Environmental problem

The billions of masks now circulating the world are much more than just a nuisance on the streets and sidewalks.

Several researchers have warned that large amounts of disposable plastic bandages end up in the wild. As early as June, The Guardian wrote that there were more bandages than jellyfish in the Mediterranean.

According to Forskning.no, researchers at the University of Portsmouth in England raised the alarm this summer and fear an environmental catastrophe if people don’t stop pulling on the bandages. They noted that 70 face masks were found on 100 meters of beach in Hong Kong this summer.

And, as we’ve come to realize, plastic can have catastrophic consequences for marine life. And that’s where a lot of the bandages end.

Traction aid is missing from the top

When Keep Norway Clean saw the scope of the problem earlier this fall, they came up with a delightful set of rules, which they sent to large municipalities, the Pharmacy Association, the National Institute of Public Health, and public transportation companies, among others.

But, apart from Sporveiene, they found that interest in prevention through information was low.

– Imagine if Erna or Bent Høie could say something about this in their press conferences. Then we could have reached out, says Gulbrandsen, who thinks that many are unaware that disposable sanitary napkins contain plastic and are therefore part of the growing plastic litter problem.

– We have many other problems with garbage. I understand that people will quickly dispose of the mouthpiece. But can’t they just leave it on until they come across a garbage can? It’s your New Years appeal.

– We can’t have a winter with floating masks!

The tram took over

Sporveien’s communications chief, Cato Asperud, confirms that the public transport company had the mouth-bandage problem on its lap from the beginning, literally.

– We experienced people leaving it on board or letting it go straight down when they went out, he says.

The company responded both by informing, appealing to people, and by deploying ticket inspectors who made direct contact with passengers. The cleaning and emptying of bins at the stations also increased.

Asperud experiences that he has become better than he was at the stations and stops. But there is still much to do.

– We cannot be attentive all the time and we just have to encourage people to use their heads, he says, and makes the following New Year’s invitation:

– It is uncomfortable to remove a mask. People just have to fine tune!