Why surgical masks should no longer be thrown away

Should we continue to put surgical masks in the trash after a single use? After a year and a half of laboratory tests, a team of French researchers demonstrates, in a study published Monday, October 11 in the scientific journal Chemosphere, that they retain their filtering power and their breathability after ten washings in the washing machine. Their performance even remains superior to that of category 1 fabric masks, with a bacterial filtration capacity of over 98% against 90%. An intuition that many consumers had but which had not yet been the subject of a systematic evaluation.

“We stopped at ten washes as part of our study but we can imagine doing more, assures Philippe Cinquin, scientific coordinator of the Clinical Investigation Center of Grenoble University Hospital. We must then propose a simple rule: throw away your mask when its appearance shows that it is damaged and that it no longer fits well on the face. “ After several passes in the machine, the outer layer of the mask may indeed have a fluffy appearance – which one can try to delay as long as possible by washing the mask in a closed pillowcase. “This pilling causes uncomfortable wear and can define the end of life of the mask even if the filtration properties remain effective”, write the authors in their study.

Furthermore, “The most fragile parts of the mask are in fact the nose bar, the elastic around the ear and especially their welding point on the corners of the mask”. As the correct fit to the face is essential to ensure optimal protection, the lifespan of these elements will strongly influence the reuse of the mask.

This work, launched as part of a consortium set up at the request of the CEO of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Antoine Petit, and the general administrator of the Atomic Energy and Energy Commission ( CEA), François Jacq, respond to major ecological and economic challenges, the wearing of the mask being called upon to continue for at least a few months, or even to become standard as an ordinary hygiene practice.

According to data from the Nielsen Institute, it sold for 550 million euros of masks in supermarkets between May 2020 and May 2021, and some 3 million euros of masks are now sold every week in France. Used masks thus represent a significant source of waste, which has been estimated at around 40,000 tonnes per year by the Directorate-General for Risk Prevention (DGPR). during a hearing by a parliamentary information mission on the treatment of used masks.

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