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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Pros and Cons of Plastic during the COVID-19 Pandemic
ClearPlastic and its consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic
Researchers examined the dual role of plastic during the COVID-19 pandemic — as life-saving material in medical and personal protective equipment and as an environmental pollutant when improperly discarded — highlighting how pandemic-driven plastic use worsened water body contamination and public health risks.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic and practical benefits alongside growing environmental and health concerns — calling for a balanced approach to plastic use and waste management.
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.
Novel Covid-19: The Surge in Plastics (Known-Unknowns), Its Impacts on Public and Environmental Health and The Way Forward
This paper examined how the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased single-use plastic consumption — PPE, packaging, and food delivery items — reversing previous progress on plastic reduction. The surge in pandemic plastics is expected to increase microplastic pollution in air, water, and food for years to come.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic benefits alongside environmental and public health risks — and surveys strategies for more sustainable plastic production and disposal.
Increased plastic pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and recommendations
This review examines how the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased plastic pollution through the massive use of disposable personal protective equipment like masks and gloves. Researchers warn that this surge in single-use plastics will accelerate the generation of microplastics and nanoplastics in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. The study emphasizes the need to balance public health measures with environmental safety and calls for a shift toward sustainable alternatives.
The Impacts of Plastic Waste from Personal Protective Equipment Used during the COVID-19 Pandemic
This review analyzes the environmental impacts of personal protective equipment plastic waste generated during the COVID-19 pandemic, examining how the unprecedented surge in PPE demand overwhelmed waste management systems and contributed to 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.
Covid-19 and the Environment: Challenges and Opportunities
This review examines both the environmental challenges and unexpected opportunities created by the COVID-19 pandemic, including temporary reductions in air pollution alongside a surge in single-use plastic waste from masks and PPE. The pandemic highlighted trade-offs between public health measures and plastic pollution.
Investigating the current status of COVID-19 related plastics and their potential impact on human health
This review examines how the COVID-19 pandemic increased human exposure to microplastics through the widespread use of plastic-based personal protective equipment like disposable face masks and gloves. Researchers found that face masks release microplastics that can be directly inhaled during use or transported through the environment, potentially carrying chemical contaminants and pathogens. The study highlights the need for more research on the health effects of PPE-derived microplastic exposure.
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.
The plastic pandemic: COVID-19 has accelerated plastic pollution, but there is a cure
This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the global plastic pollution crisis through massively increased use of single-use protective equipment like masks and gloves. Researchers review the environmental consequences and propose solutions including improved waste management, biodegradable alternatives, and policy changes to curb plastic pollution going forward.
Protecting the environment from plastic PPE
This commentary examined how the COVID-19 pandemic increased plastic pollution through high use of single-use personal protective equipment, arguing that pandemic response protocols need to incorporate environmental considerations to prevent exacerbating the global plastic pollution crisis.
Environmental Impacts of Personal Protective Clothing Used to Combat COVID‐ 19
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.
The long-term impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on environmental health: a review study of the bi-directional effect
Researchers reviewed how the COVID-19 pandemic created a two-way relationship with environmental health, finding that lockdowns temporarily improved air and water quality while simultaneously driving a surge in single-use plastic waste and biohazard materials. The review calls for long-term sustainability policies that balance economic recovery with environmental protection, including reducing plastic pollution.
Single-Use Plastics and COVID-19: Scientific Evidence and Environmental Regulations
This commentary examines how the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased single-use plastic consumption and waste, reviewing the scientific evidence for the environmental impacts and discussing regulatory frameworks being developed in response.
COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the environment: A global perspective
This global perspective reviews environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, documenting sharp increases in single-use plastic waste, pharmaceutical pollution, and medical waste that more than offset short-term pollution reductions seen during lockdowns. The authors argue that pandemic-driven plastic surges created a new wave of microplastic contamination entering aquatic and terrestrial systems.
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.
An Environmental Dilemma for China During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Explosion of Disposable Plastic Wastes
Researchers analyzed how China's COVID-19 response — including mass online delivery and widespread mask use — created a surge in single-use plastic waste that undermined the country's 2020 plastic ban, highlighting the tension between pandemic management and plastic pollution control.
The COVID-19 pandemic as an impeller for the aggravation of marine plastic pollution and economic crisis: the reserve effect of health protection measures on human lives
This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic worsened marine plastic pollution by dramatically increasing the use of single-use masks, gloves, and other protective equipment. Billions of pieces of pandemic-related plastic waste entered the environment, much of which ended up in oceans. The authors argue that biodegradable alternatives and better waste management are needed to prevent pandemic-era plastics from becoming a lasting marine pollution problem.
From outbreak of COVID-19 to launching of vaccination drive: invigorating single-use plastics, mitigation strategies, and way forward
Researchers review how the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent vaccination rollout dramatically increased single-use plastic consumption through PPE, medical devices, and e-commerce packaging, and recommend a stepwise management approach combining segregation, sterilization, technological innovation, and transition to biodegradable material alternatives.
A Brief Review on Plastic Pollution and Roads Towards its Reduction
This brief review summarized sources of plastic pollution and evaluated reduction strategies, noting that COVID-19 increased single-use plastic consumption dramatically. The review calls for improved waste management, stronger regulations, and development of biodegradable plastic alternatives to reduce the microplastic burden.
Face Masks to Combat Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Processing, Roles, Requirements, Efficacy, Risk and Sustainability
This review examines the materials, manufacturing methods, and effectiveness of face masks used during the COVID-19 pandemic, most of which are made from non-biodegradable plastics like polypropylene and polyester. Researchers found that while masks are effective at reducing virus transmission, their widespread use and improper disposal have created a significant environmental concern as they break down into microplastics. The study calls for more sustainable mask materials and better waste management strategies to reduce the environmental footprint of pandemic-related plastic waste.
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.