Study Reveals Surge in COVID Mask Pollution on Moroccan Beaches

Published on the sciencedirect.com website, the report of this five-month study notes "a high density of face masks" on the tourist beaches of Fnideq, M’diq, Azla and Kaa Asrasse, during the period from February to June 2021. In total, 321 face masks were found on the five beaches, of which 96.27% were for single use. In detail, 105 face masks were found on the beach of Martil, 99 on the beach of Fnideq, 54 on the beach of M’diq, 39 on the beach of Azla and 24 on the beach of Kaa Asrasse.

The density of face masks depends on the periods: 23.05% of the total number of masks were found in February, a low number of masks recorded during the month of Ramadan (April-May), 41.43% in June due to the higher number of visitors who frequented the studied beaches.

"With the large number of masks introduced on the beach, we hypothesize that microplastic pollution could increase dramatically in the Moroccan Mediterranean in the years to come, warn Bilal Mghili, Mohamed Analla and Mustapha Aksissou, authors of this study. Significant efforts are needed to reduce this type of waste".