Concerns about the spread of coronavirus in Fife communities have been raised after environmental campaigners discovered thousands of discarded face masks strewn across the region.
The Fife Street Champions group said volunteers found a mask every 60 metres during one litter pick near a shopping area in Rosyth.
The scale of the dumping has fuelled health and safety fears over to risk of contamination.
Since the group started as part of a wider Marine Conservation Society campaign almost four months ago, 4,253 face masks have been found – 221 of them the reusable cotton kind.
Sharon Longhurst, from the Fife Street Champions group, said: “We started counting face masks on the 18th September last year for the Marine Conservation Society’s survey and we were so shocked at the amount that we were finding that we decided to continue counting.
“Our highest daily amount is 128 which were found between 14 of our litter picking members.
“Supermarket areas are particularly bad for them also along busy roads in and out of retail parks.
“We find a lot thrown from car windows.”
Ms Longhurst said one of the group’s members found 51 masks on a 600 metre walk alongside Sainsbury’s in Rosyth recently.
The Fife Street Champions movement has grown steadily since its inception in 2018 and there are now almost 1,500 members.
Other groups such as Happy Beaches Fife, The Beach House Burntisland, Markinch Litter Picked Warriors, Keep Kirkcaldy Tidy and Inverkeithing/Dalgety Bay Coastal Path Pickers are also involved in the united effort.
David Spence, from Fife Street Champions, said the face mask situation was concerning – as was the general litter problem in many areas.
“Our efforts and benefit to the community are often overlooked, as you can never tell where a litter picker has been, only where they haven’t been,” he said.
“It’s not just bottles, cans and food wrappers. We lift tyres, broken furniture, home appliances, fishing gear, clothes and many other types of detritus, including human waste.
“In 2020 we collected 10,397 bags of rubbish from the streets, parks, countryside and beaches of Fife and we reckon we’ll have no problem in increasing that figure this year.”
Cases of coronavirus are continuing to rise across Fife and local people have been urged to dispose of masks properly to reduce any potential for cross-contamination.
Charlotte Green, from waste company TradeWaste.co.uk, said: “If you walk around any street now you will see disposable face masks being blown around with leaves in the gutter.
“They are the new cigarette butt – people are chucking them after use.
“We know that 53m are being sent to landfill each day – but just how many end up elsewhere is the very scary part.”
More details are available here.
