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Post-COVID-19: An Opportunity to Produce Biodegradable Goods & Surgical Masks to Save the Environment
Summary
This study argued that the COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to transition from conventional polypropylene surgical masks and single-use plastics toward biodegradable alternatives as part of a broader shift to circular economy principles. The authors highlighted the compounding effect of pandemic-related plastic waste on microplastic pollution in marine and terrestrial environments.
Consumption of natural raw materials is causing climate changing, by an acceleration of glaciers, oceans, and forests’ depletions with the contemporary accumulation of waste materials. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has further incremented the waste material of plastics because of the obligatory use of surgery masks, made prevalently by the non-biodegradable polypropylene. Thus, the necessity to change the way of producing and consuming transforming the linear economy based on the taking, make, and waste in the circular economy of reducing, reusing, and recycling. Changing the actual way of living, it will be also possible to drastically reduce the increasing plastics waste that, invading lands and oceans are entering into the food chain with negative effects on fauna flora and the human’s wellbeing. Just to remember the global production of plastics exploded from 1.5 million metric tons in 1950 to nearly 350 million metric tons in 2017 and, disposed to the landfill as waste, are producing global greenhouse gas emissions of 2.8 billion tons per year. Being the technology ready, it is proposed to produce natural polymers, such as chitin and lignin which, obtainable from waste materials, may be used to produce biodegradable goods and surgical and beauty masks. By this way it will be possible to maintain the natural raw materials for future generations, saving human wellbeing and the world’s biodiversity.
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