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Description
Due to the global pandemic of the Covid-19, the use of disposable plastic, especially face masks has significantly increased. Face masks are categorized as infectious waste and it represents a major problem to the community and public health especially if they are discarded in the environment.
That is the reason that the project "Take care of the mask" was designed. It aims to educate citizens about the importance of proper disposal of face masks, as well as a long-term influence and advocacy for the City of Osijek to become a city without disposable plastic.
There will be a direct influence on the local community through public activities and education on how to reduce plastic waste, especially the disposal of protective masks because they fall into categories of infectious waste.
The direct beneficiaries of this project are citizens, the local community while indirect beneficiaries are representatives of the City of Osijek (institutions), the private sector, Clinical hospital Osijek and the media.
The PLANTaža Association will take on the role of the project leader and coordinate the implementation of activities, while we will conduct advocacy activities with representatives of institutions (City of Osijek) to directly influence the ultimate goal of the project and advocate for Osijek to become a city without disposable plastic.
Summary of project results
The issue we were affected by was discarded disposable masks on the streets of the city. The main results we have achieved are educating as many people as possible about the harmfulness of disposable plastic and its detrimental impact on the environment, and encourage our fellow citizens to replace disposable masks with reusable canvas. In addition, we provided additional information on how to dispose of plastic products and their replacement in everyday life.
We also disposed of the masks we collected during the activities and from companies that encouraged their employees to dispose of the masks appropriately. In exchange for the collected disposable masks, we divided the canvas ones, and in this way we also influenced the smaller amount of masks on the streets and in municipal waste.