Nature of Request
Waste prevention
Case id
2021-117
Request
Date received
| I am a researcher looking at plastic waste management of disposable facemasks as part of the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm interested in your article where the number of 102 million masks per week are being discarded by UK citizens is stated (102 Million Disposable Facemasks Thrown Away in the UK Each Week Would Cover Wembley Pitch 232 Times Over). Would you be able to provide the research methodology that lead you to arrive at that number? I would like to cite your work in a publication I am preparing but I'd like some more detail on where that number came from. |
Response
Response date
Thank you for your request of 19 April 2021 regarding the above. This request has been allocated the reference number 2021-117.
The figures we used in our campaign to encourage reusable face masks was calculated, as follows:
- 27% of UK over 16s wearing disposable face masks x is 54,098,971 (population of UK over 16, ONS 2019 figure) = 14,606,722 masks per day, assuming use of one disposable mask per day = 102,247,054 masks per week
- Facemask dimensions: 18cm x 9cm = 236,629 metres squared for 14,606,722 masks
- Wembley stadium pitch = 105m x 68 m = 7,140 metres squared
- Disposable masks could cover the pitch at Wembley stadium 232 times over every week (236,629 /7,140 x 7)
I hope this response provides the information you are looking for but if we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have additional and/or more specific requests for information in relation to your research.
