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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Environmental stewardship in healthcare: Use of bio-plastics in surgery
ClearGreen surgery: to reduce carbon footprint
This paper examines the environmental footprint of surgical procedures and proposes strategies for green surgery, including reduction of single-use plastic instruments and packaging that contribute to operating theater waste streams. The authors call for systemic changes in hospital procurement to reduce carbon emissions from healthcare.
Plastic accumulation during COVID-19: call for another pandemic; bioplastic a step towards this challenge?
Researchers reviewed the surge in single-use plastic waste driven by COVID-19 personal protective equipment and evaluated bioplastics as an alternative, concluding that while bioplastics have limitations, transitioning toward them alongside circular economy waste management and policy intervention is essential to prevent plastic pollution from compounding pandemic-era environmental pressures.
Biomedical waste plastic: bacteria, disinfection and recycling technologies—a comprehensive review
Researchers reviewed recycling and disinfection technologies for the surge in biomedical plastic waste generated during COVID-19, finding that roughly 25% of biomedical waste is recyclable and that cleaner treatment approaches — from autoclave sterilization to chemical recycling — can convert this hazardous waste stream into recoverable materials.
Impacts and Regulations of Healthcare Solid Waste Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review
This systematic review summarizes research on healthcare waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic, when medical plastic waste surged dramatically. The massive increase in disposable masks, gloves, and other medical plastics created new sources of microplastic pollution, raising concerns about both environmental contamination and potential health effects from degrading medical waste.
The Journey of Plastics: Historical Development, Environmental Challenges, and the Emergence of Bioplastics for Single-Use Products
This review traces the history of plastic from its invention to its current environmental crisis, including the rise of microplastic pollution in ecosystems worldwide. It examines bioplastics as a potential sustainable alternative, covering their types, applications, and the challenges of scaling production. The shift to biodegradable alternatives is presented as essential for reducing the growing tide of microplastic contamination that threatens both environmental and human health.
A sustainable trend in COVID-19 research: An environmental perspective
This review analyzes the sustainable research trends linking COVID-19 and the environment, examining how the pandemic affected environmental conditions including increased plastic waste from personal protective equipment and medical supplies.
Single‐use materials and poorly recycled waste in intensive care: An argument for improving sustainability
This article argues for improving sustainability in intensive care units by addressing the environmental impact of single-use plastics, paper, and other materials commonly used in clinical settings. The authors highlight that ICU waste is energy-intensive to produce and difficult to recycle, contributing significantly to healthcare's carbon footprint. The study calls for rethinking material choices and waste management practices in critical care to reduce plastic pollution and environmental harm.
Challenges in Healthcare Waste Management of the UN 2030 Agenda in the COVID-19 Era
This review examined healthcare waste management challenges during COVID-19, finding that the pandemic dramatically increased demand for single-use personal protective equipment, creating large new streams of potentially infectious plastic waste with serious implications for environmental microplastic pollution.
Effects of Mismanagement of Medical and Plastic Waste in Pre and During COVID-19 Outbreak
This review examined how mismanagement of medical and plastic waste — a problem worsened by COVID-19 — harms the environment and human health, particularly for healthcare workers. Improperly disposed PPE, sharps, and plastic packaging create pollution hazards and increase disease risk. The authors call for improved waste management infrastructure to address pandemic-era plastic waste surges.
The Polymer Medical Waste: A Tough Challenge for Environmental Sustainability
This review examines polymer medical waste — including plastics and non-degradable materials from hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and veterinary facilities — as a major environmental sustainability challenge, discussing the contamination risks from blood and infectious materials and the difficulties of managing non-decomposable healthcare plastic waste.
A Review of Bioplastics and Their Adoption in the Circular Economy
This review examines the current landscape of bioplastics, including bio-based and biodegradable materials, as potential alternatives to conventional fossil-fuel-derived plastics. Researchers assessed standards, life cycle analyses, and environmental performance of various bioplastic types. The study highlights that while bioplastics offer potential benefits for reducing fossil resource dependency, challenges remain around their actual environmental performance and integration into circular economy systems.
Sustainable Materials and Technologies for Biomedical Applications
This review covers sustainable biomaterials for medical implants, including 3D-printed devices made from biopolymers, ceramics, and composites. While not directly about microplastics, it is relevant because developing biodegradable alternatives to traditional plastics in medical devices could reduce the amount of plastic waste that eventually breaks down into microplastics. The research highlights how sustainable manufacturing could help address plastic pollution at its source.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Bioplastic as an Alternative of Conventional Plastic towards Sustainable Plastic T
This review examines bioplastics derived from renewable biomass sources (such as corn starch, vegetable oils, and food waste) as sustainable alternatives to conventional petroleum-based plastics, evaluating their benefits and drawbacks across environmental performance, biodegradability, and scalability. The article explores whether bioplastics represent a viable pathway toward more sustainable plastic use given growing concerns over the non-biodegradable nature and resource intensity of conventional plastics.
The crisis of biomedical wastes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and management using sustainable technologies for sound management of healthcare waste associated with pandemics
This review examines the surge in biomedical waste — including single-use plastics, PPE, and contaminated materials — generated during the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluates sustainable management strategies including waste segregation, autoclaving, and advanced treatment technologies.
Sustainability in the Operating Room
Researchers review the outsized environmental footprint of surgical operating rooms — particularly from volatile anesthetic agents, medications, and single-use equipment — and argue that anesthesiology has exceptional leverage to reduce healthcare's greenhouse gas emissions and waste burden as part of a broader sustainability transformation in medicine.
COVID‐19: An Accelerator for Global Plastic Consumption and Its Implications
This review examined how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated global plastic consumption through increased medical waste and single-use plastics, analyzing the environmental implications and challenges for waste management systems worldwide.
Sustainability in anaesthesia and critical care: beyond carbon
Researchers reviewed the full environmental footprint of healthcare — going beyond greenhouse gas emissions to include water pollution, toxic chemicals, and microplastics — and found that drugs like propofol and antibiotics discharged into waterways, along with massive quantities of disposable plastic equipment, pose serious ecological risks. The article calls on clinicians and policymakers to adopt holistic strategies that reduce waste, limit single-use plastics, and account for the full spectrum of environmental harm.
Microplastic pollution and associated health hazards: Impact of COVID-19 pandemic
This review explores how the COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in single-use plastic waste from masks, gloves, and packaging, increasing microplastic pollution in the environment. Microplastics from this waste can enter land, air, and water, ultimately accumulating in the human body. The study highlights the need for better plastic waste detection, recycling, and management to reduce health risks from pandemic-driven microplastic contamination.
Post-COVID-19: An Opportunity to Produce Biodegradable Goods & Surgical Masks to Save the Environment
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.
A Sustainable Approach to Plastics; Bioplastics
This review examines bioplastics as a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics, comparing bio-based and biodegradable options against traditional plastics on environmental impact, biodegradability standards, and performance, finding that while bioplastics offer potential solutions to microplastic generation and soil toxicity, standardization and lifecycle assessment remain key challenges.
Microplastics in perioperative practice: an emerging concern for surgical safety
This review highlights the emerging concern of microplastics in surgical environments, noting that single-use plastic equipment in operating rooms generates microplastic particles that can contaminate surgical sites and patient tissues, calling for greater awareness of MP exposure risks in perioperative settings.
An urgent call to think globally and act locally on landfill disposable plastics under and after covid-19 pandemic: Pollution prevention and technological (Bio) remediation solutions
This review examines how the COVID-19 pandemic worsened plastic pollution through massive increases in landfilled disposable masks and other protective equipment, estimated at 3.5 million metric tonnes in the first year alone. Researchers warn that improperly managed pandemic waste could release trillions of microplastics into the environment. The study highlights innovative waste management and bioremediation technologies that could help mitigate the long-term environmental impact.
Plastic solid waste management strategies: An overview of implications on environment and health
This review provides an overview of plastic solid waste management strategies, examining the environmental implications of different disposal pathways — landfill, incineration, recycling, and biological treatment — alongside emerging approaches including chemical recycling and biodegradable substitutes. The authors assess trade-offs between these strategies and identify policy frameworks that could accelerate the transition to more circular plastic management.
How Should US Health Care Lead Global Change in Plastic Waste Disposal?
This article argues that US health care must lead global change in plastic waste disposal by assigning accountability to organizational leaders, implementing circular supply chains, and collaborating across medical and waste industries to reduce environmental harm.