These masks will last way longer than the Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has been on our minds intensively since the end of 2019, with the first case in Germany on 27 January 2020. The use of PPE, in particular face masks, and to a lesser extent gloves and face shields, has become widespread, and a common tool used in preventing the spread of the pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic is contributing to the increased use of face masks, which are supposed to protect us from Covid-19. However, they have one major disadvantage: they are made of polypropylene plastic and are therefore not recyclable. While PPE offers important protection from the virus, the improper disposal of single-use plastic PPE has led to a surge in plastic pollutions. This plastic does not „go away“, it will take as long as 450 years to break down, breaking up into smaller and smaller pieces of Microplastics and impact our environment.

As a result of this and seeing everywhere masks lying around I created the campaign #wegdamit during the Elective: Photography and Visual Perception. The photographs should create an awareness of that huge impact of face masks everywhere and maybe lead one or another person to a small action.