Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations
Plastics have become a severe transboundary threat to natural ecosystems and human health, with studies predicting a twofold increase in the number of plastic debris (including micro and nano-sized plastics) by 2030. However, such predictions will likely be aggravated by the excessive use and consumption of single-use plastics (including personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves) due to COVID-19 pandemic. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview on the effects of COVID-19 on macroplastic pollution and its potential implications on the environment and human health considering short- and long-term scenarios; addressing the main challenges and discussing potential strategies to overcome them. It emphasises that future measures, involved in an emergent health crisis or not, should reflect a balance between public health and environmental safety as they are both undoubtedly connected. Although the use and consumption of plastics significantly improved our quality of life, it is crucial to shift towards sustainable alternatives, such as bio-based plastics. Plastics should remain in the top of the political agenda in Europe and across the world, not only to minimise plastic leakage and pollution, but to promote sustainable growth and to stimulate both green and blue- economies. Discussions on this topic, particularly considering the excessive use of plastic, should start soon with the involvement of the scientific community, plastic producers and politicians in order to be prepared for the near future.
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Format: | artículo biblioteca |
Language: | English |
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Elsevier BV
2020-08-17
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Subjects: | Single-Use-Plastics, Macroplastic, Waste, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/218348 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000038 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006111 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001871 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 |
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dig-idaea-es-10261-2183482021-12-27T16:34:34Z Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations Patrício Silva, Ana L. Prata, Joana C. Walker, Tony R. Duarte, Armando C. Ouyang, Wei Barceló, Damià Rocha-Santos, Teresa Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (Portugal) Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (Portugal) European Commission Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Single-Use-Plastics Macroplastic Waste Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Plastics have become a severe transboundary threat to natural ecosystems and human health, with studies predicting a twofold increase in the number of plastic debris (including micro and nano-sized plastics) by 2030. However, such predictions will likely be aggravated by the excessive use and consumption of single-use plastics (including personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves) due to COVID-19 pandemic. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview on the effects of COVID-19 on macroplastic pollution and its potential implications on the environment and human health considering short- and long-term scenarios; addressing the main challenges and discussing potential strategies to overcome them. It emphasises that future measures, involved in an emergent health crisis or not, should reflect a balance between public health and environmental safety as they are both undoubtedly connected. Although the use and consumption of plastics significantly improved our quality of life, it is crucial to shift towards sustainable alternatives, such as bio-based plastics. Plastics should remain in the top of the political agenda in Europe and across the world, not only to minimise plastic leakage and pollution, but to promote sustainable growth and to stimulate both green and blue- economies. Discussions on this topic, particularly considering the excessive use of plastic, should start soon with the involvement of the scientific community, plastic producers and politicians in order to be prepared for the near future. Thanks are due to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020), with the financial support from FCT/MCTES through national funds; and to the research projects comPET (PTDC/CTA-AMB/30361/2017) and MARSENSE (PTDC/BTA-GES/28770/2017) funded by FEDER, through COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI), and by national funds (OE), through FCT/MCTES. J.C.P. and A.L.P.S. were funded by Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) through scholarship PD/BD/135581/2018 and PD/BPD/114870/2016 + CEECIND/01366/2018, respectively; under POCH funds, co-financed by the European Social Fund and Portuguese National Funds from MEC. T.R.W. was funded by a NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2018-04119. Peer reviewed 2020-08-21T07:51:45Z 2020-08-21T07:51:45Z 2020-08-17 artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 Chemical Engineering Journal 126683 (2020) 1385-8947 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/218348 10.1016/j.cej.2020.126683 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000038 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006111 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001871 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 32834764 en Postprint https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.126683 Sí open Elsevier BV |
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Single-Use-Plastics Macroplastic Waste Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Single-Use-Plastics Macroplastic Waste Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 |
spellingShingle |
Single-Use-Plastics Macroplastic Waste Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Single-Use-Plastics Macroplastic Waste Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Patrício Silva, Ana L. Prata, Joana C. Walker, Tony R. Duarte, Armando C. Ouyang, Wei Barceló, Damià Rocha-Santos, Teresa Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations |
description |
Plastics have become a severe transboundary threat to natural ecosystems and
human health, with studies predicting a twofold increase in the number of plastic debris
(including micro and nano-sized plastics) by 2030. However, such predictions will likely be
aggravated by the excessive use and consumption of single-use plastics (including personal
protective equipment such as masks and gloves) due to COVID-19 pandemic. This review
aimed to provide a comprehensive overview on the effects of COVID-19 on macroplastic
pollution and its potential implications on the environment and human health considering
short- and long-term scenarios; addressing the main challenges and discussing potential
strategies to overcome them. It emphasises that future measures, involved in an emergent
health crisis or not, should reflect a balance between public health and environmental safety
as they are both undoubtedly connected. Although the use and consumption of plastics
significantly improved our quality of life, it is crucial to shift towards sustainable alternatives,
such as bio-based plastics. Plastics should remain in the top of the political agenda in Europe
and across the world, not only to minimise plastic leakage and pollution, but to promote
sustainable growth and to stimulate both green and blue- economies. Discussions on this
topic, particularly considering the excessive use of plastic, should start soon with the
involvement of the scientific community, plastic producers and politicians in order to be
prepared for the near future. |
author2 |
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) |
author_facet |
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) Patrício Silva, Ana L. Prata, Joana C. Walker, Tony R. Duarte, Armando C. Ouyang, Wei Barceló, Damià Rocha-Santos, Teresa |
format |
artículo |
topic_facet |
Single-Use-Plastics Macroplastic Waste Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 |
author |
Patrício Silva, Ana L. Prata, Joana C. Walker, Tony R. Duarte, Armando C. Ouyang, Wei Barceló, Damià Rocha-Santos, Teresa |
author_sort |
Patrício Silva, Ana L. |
title |
Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations |
title_short |
Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations |
title_full |
Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations |
title_fullStr |
Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increased plastic pollution due to Covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations |
title_sort |
increased plastic pollution due to covid-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations |
publisher |
Elsevier BV |
publishDate |
2020-08-17 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/218348 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000038 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006111 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001871 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 |
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