𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 one 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬, 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞. S𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 actions 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠!
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have just focussed on the CoVid -19, the deaths, the positive cases, and not on the environmental consequences that the virus will bring to the whole world. We were not aware of the problems that the fact of not recycling our masks would cause. If we had recycled the 1% of all the masks that we have used we could have saved a hundred thousand tons of them and they would not even have ended up in the sea. That has provoked a new and important environmental issue, since a lot of people don’t recycle them. So, we suggested a day out to collect all the masks that we found on the beach and around the Muga river.
The students took the initiative; out of a casual activity, our class suggested the idea to do a good action for the world. Our class representative and teachers organised an excursion to collect all the masks. This is the origin of our initiative, so on the 2nd of March we started our battle against this environmental issue.
We left the high school at nine o’clock walking towards the beach and Muga river, and in groups we started to clean the entire zone. First, we crossed the river and then, we finished on the beach.
As we spread ourselves, we collected a total of forty-six masks and other microplastics. We witnessed a horrible situation; lots of masks in the Muga river and a tree with a lot of them hanging from its branches. We took a photo to show how CoVid-19 also affects the environment.
Our main priority was to clean all the zone and inform with posters that we had created, that masks should not be thrown on the ground, and we did it! People just need to understand that and take notice. We made a lot of publicity and we also explained to the rest of the students of both the school and the high school that change starts in schools. We have no doubt about it !
By Fatin Metouassi, Douae Laouzi, Eneida Garcia, Ziad Metouassi and Mosaab Atmani 
