Dutch brand Marie Bee Bloom has embedded flower seeds into single-use rice paper masks in a bid to cut down on plastic pollution and give back to nature.
When planted into soil and watered, the seeds start to germinate in around three days and will ultimately grow into a small patch of wildflowers.
Fabricated in a small community workshop in the Netherlands, the mask itself will biodegrade whether placed in a garden or a landfill.
The designers created the product as an alternative to disposable personal protective equipment (PPE) made from plastics, which takes up to 450 years to biodegrade and breaks down into microplastics ingested by fish, other marine life and ultimately humans.
The seed mix contains seven different Dutch wildflowers, such as daisies, petunias, cornflowers and delicate baby's breath.
These seeds are fixed in place using a homemade adhesive of potato starch and water, wedged between two sheets of rice paper.
The logo printed on the outside is rendered in biodegradable ink, which she claims contains no harmful chemicals, while the ear loops are made from spun sheep's wool.
