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Recent Eco-Friendly Developments in Personal Protective Clothing Materials for Reducing Plastic Pollution: A Review
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This review examined recent developments in eco-friendly personal protective clothing materials, evaluating bio-based and biodegradable fiber alternatives to conventional plastic-derived materials as a strategy to reduce plastic pollution from the personal protective equipment sector.
Due to the industrialization increase in the 20th century, the level of hazards for public health and the demand for personnel protective clothing (PPC) have increased. The area of PPC has been steered to high tech equipment made from plastic-based materials, which are derived from non-renewable sources and have a long life cycle expanding from hundreds to thousands of years, after their end of useful life. This paper reviews the information related to conventional plastic-based fibers, their properties, advantages, disadvantages, and applications in the battlefield, industry, automobiles, etc. This paper provides a basis for the selection of natural fibers and the replacement of conventional plastic-based fibers to reduce the plastic content in protective clothing or other composites. A comparative analysis of technological, environmental, economic and legal aspects of plastic-based and environment-friendly natural fibers is presented. Natural fiber-based composite protective clothing is found to be environment-friendly and considered to have prospects for the future due to its comparative technological, environmental, economic and legal advantages.
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This review examines the environmental impacts of single-use personal protective equipment (PPE) used during COVID-19, which is primarily made from polypropylene and polyester plastics. The surge in PPE use generated enormous quantities of plastic waste, much of which was not properly disposed of and ended up in oceans and other environments. The authors call for development of biodegradable or reusable alternatives for healthcare personal protection.
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This chapter reviews how the surge in personal protective equipment (PPE) use during the COVID-19 pandemic introduced a new stream of microplastic contamination into the environment. The authors examine PPE material composition, fragmentation pathways, and the scale of resulting pollution.
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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.