The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has continued to impact the social, cultural, and environmental system of every human settlement.. Face masks have been identified as one of the measures to lessen the spread of this virus and as a result, the demand for masks has continued to increase. The study seeks to investigate the face masks usage (number per person and type) and the prevailing disposal method among Nigerian face mask users. The study employed online survey methods for data collection which limited participants to only the social media users. Using snowballing sampling, the survey was targeted 1,400 participants but 429 (31.2%) (Nigerians) were able to submit their responses. The study found out that: majority of the participants (48.3%) use face mask only when they are going to places where mask is required; 76.9 per cent use single face mask per day; 53.8 and 42.7 per cent use surgical mask and cloth mask, respectively; 57.3 per cent participants dispose their used face mask by throwing them away irrationally, while the other common means of the disposals are as hazardous waste (16.1%) and burning (13.3%); 54.5 per cent (that is 26.8% – surgical mask, 25% – cloth 1.4% – N95 mask) claimed they are fond of re-using their face mask. Chi Square analysis reveals an association between people’s level of environmental education and the passion to promote environment sustainability (P values=0.00, p<0.01). The study recommends proper awareness and sensitization on mask usage and disposal as people’s means to support environmental sustainability.
Keywords: Face Mask, Environmental Sustainability, Covid-19, Waste Disposal