After carefully disinfecting used masks, they recycle and patch them together to make cool, small bags they called “Mascase.”

The waterproof bags, primarily designed to carry water bottles, are the brainchild of students from Eraslan High School in the western province of Izmir. 

Masks improperly disposed of often end up as untreated waste and sometimes, at sea, an unfortunate dumping ground for careless people. On land, they pose an infection danger while at sea, they are an immediate risk to marine life, which can mistake them for food and end up digesting them. Containing polypropylene plastic material, elastic and metal, the masks, when ingested, severely harm and even kill marine life. The material they are made out of breaks up into smaller pieces, creating microplastics when improperly disposed. It can also take up to 450 years for them to decompose.