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Available Recycling Solutions for Increased Personal Protective Equipment in the Environment Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
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This paper examines available recycling options for the surge in personal protective equipment waste generated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers found that most PPE materials are technically recyclable but that infrastructure, contamination concerns, and economics remain major barriers to large-scale recovery.
The whole world today is facing an enormous increase in plastic waste pollution caused by the emergence of the COVID – 19 pandemic. A complex chemical composition of personal protective equipment (PPE) mainly containing polypropylene (PP) complicates the recycling process and it could take at least 450 years to degrade. Plastic pollution was already one of the greatest threats to our planet before the coronavirus outbreak. Disposal of millions of contaminated PPEs would end up as wastes, which, if improperly managed, can generate tonnes of plastic waste and consequently plastic pollution which is a significant threat to oceans and marine life. Eight million tons of plastic waste already end up in the world’s oceans every year, and the impact of COVID-19 will only increase those figures. To reduce the amount of waste after using face masks and gloves which ends up in the environment have been proposed by different waste management companies and discussed in detail. Moreover, an eco-friendly way for photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene via TiO2-based nanomaterials under solar irradiation is present. Catalytic conversion of PP is also proposed for the reduction of environmental pollution. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of plastic pollution and discussing potential strategies to overcome them.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.