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A review of disposable facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic: A focus on microplastics release

Chemosphere 2022 52 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 55 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Yingshuang Zhang, Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Yingshuang Zhang, Hui Wang, Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Hui Wang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Hui Wang, Hui Wang, Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Dan Luo, Luyao Wang, Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Yingshuang Zhang, Chongqing Wang Yingshuang Zhang, Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Yingshuang Zhang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Hui Wang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Yingshuang Zhang, Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang Hongru Jiang, Chongqing Wang Chongqing Wang

Summary

This review examines the environmental threats posed by disposable face masks used during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on microplastic release. Researchers found that discarded masks undergo physical and chemical degradation in the environment, generating microplastics that contaminate both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The study provides an overview of current knowledge on microplastic extraction methods and proposes strategies for controlling mask-related plastic pollution through source reduction and improved waste management.

The COVID-19 epidemic seriously threats the human society and provokes the panic of the public. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are widely utilized for frontline health workers to face the ongoing epidemic, especially disposable face masks (DFMs) to prevent airborne transmission of coronavirus. The overproduction and massive utilization of DFMs seriously challenge the management of plastic wastes. A huge amount of DFMs are discharged into environment, potentially induced the generation of microplastics (MPs) owing to physicochemical destruction. The MPs release will pose severe contamination burden on environment and human. In this review, environmental threats of DFMs regarding to DFMs fate in environment and DFMs threats to aquatic and terrestrial species were surveyed. A full summary of recent studies on MPs release from DFMs was provided. The knowledge of extraction and characterizations of MPs, the release behavior, and potential threats of MPs derived from DFMs was discussed. To confront the problem, feasible strategies for control DFMs pollution were analyzed from the perspective of source control and waste management. This review provides a better understanding the threats, fate, and management of DFMs linked to COVID-19 pandemic.

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