The country's largest community-based environmental event, the 2022 Clean Up Australia Day will include a 'citizen science project' to measure the extent of Australia's face mask litter.

There is currently no data about the number of pandemic-related litter in Australia's environment, but Clean up Australia chair Pip Kiernan said there was no doubt the amount of plastic waste had surged during the pandemic.

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"We can't cover up the problem - now is the time to act," she said.

"Our environmental issues have not gone away because of COVID, rather, they have escalated because of the mountain of rubbish we've created."

BirdLife Tasmania convener Eric Woehler OAM said he had seen the impact of the pandemic on the natural environment firsthand.

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"The Clean Up Australia campaign has drawn attention on a national scale to the sheer volume of rubbish that is in our landscape on a daily basis," he said.

"And the COVID requirements or the response as far as having to wear masks has seen a massive increase in that pollution in the Australian landscape."

Dr Woehler welcomed the Clean Up Australia Day initiative and said it would help scientists gain a clearer picture of the scale of the problem.

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"It is critical that these masks are removed from the environment, but also that we can get a sense of the sheer number of masks that have been discarded inappropriately in the Australian landscape," he said.

Dr Woehler said he had seen masks when he had been surveying bird colonies and found it a cause for concern.

"This morning I was at a gull colony, and even in the first 10 meters of me walking around the edge of the colony I saw two masks," Dr Woehler said.

"I don't know if they had been blown to the colony or brought to the colony by the birds, but these masks are now pervasive."

To register for Clean Up Australia Day on March 6, visit cleanup.org.au.

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