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Global plastic upcycling during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: The status and perspective
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic created a surge in plastic waste, think disposable masks and medical supplies, making an already serious plastic pollution problem worse for both ecosystems and public health. This review paper (summarizing existing research rather than presenting new experiments) outlines ways to turn plastic trash into useful products, like better recycling methods and turning waste into new materials, as practical steps toward reducing plastic buildup. Since plastic pollution breaks down into microplastics that can end up in our food, water, and bodies, finding smarter ways to reuse plastic matters for long-term human health, not just the environment.
Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues worldwide since the vast majority of post-consumer plastics are hard to degrade in the environment. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had disrupted the previous effort of plastic pollution mitigation to a great extent due to the overflow of plastic-based medical waste. In the post-pandemic era, the remaining challenge is how to motivate global action towards a plastic circular economy. The need for one package of sustainable and systematic plastic upcycling approaches has never been greater to address such a challenge. In this review, we summarized the threat of plastic pollution during COVID-19 to public health and ecosystem. In order to solve the aforementioned challenges, we present a shifting concept, regeneration value from plastic waste, that provides four promising pathways to achieve a sustainable circular economy: 1) Increasing reusability and biodegradability of plastics; 2) Transforming plastic waste into high-value products by chemical approaches; 3) The closed-loop recycling can be promoted by biodegradation; 4) Involving renewable energy into plastic upcycling. Additionally, the joint efforts from different social perspectives are also encouraged to create the necessary economic and environmental impetus for a circular economy.