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. 2021 Mar 15:760:144167.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144167. Epub 2020 Dec 10.

Plastic residues produced with confirmatory testing for COVID-19: Classification, quantification, fate, and impacts on human health

José E Celis  1 , Winfred Espejo  2 , Esteban Paredes-Osses  3 , Sonia A Contreras  1 , Gustavo Chiang  4 , Paulina Bahamonde  5
Affiliations

Plastic residues produced with confirmatory testing for COVID-19: Classification, quantification, fate, and impacts on human health

José E Celis et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

In March 2020, several international organizations started making recommendations regarding the need for prompt coronavirus-based diagnosis in order to prevent its spread among the world's population. The most widely used test for confirmation of COVID-19 is real-time PCR (RT-PCR). This technique uses plastic supplies in its procedures, which are 100% disposable to avoid cross-contamination and biological risks. The scientific community has become increasingly worried because of the environmental impacts associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic, such as medical plastic residues. We classified and estimated the amount of plastic residues generated as a consequence of COVID-19 diagnostic tests and analyzed the relationships of the plastics generated with number of confirmed cases, population size, and gross domestic product in each country. We evidenced that the RT-PCR generates 37.27 g of plastic residues per sample. All patients COVID-19 tested with RT-PCR have generated 15,439.59 tons of plastic residue worldwide, until August 2020. The plastic residues generated by the COVID-19 tests have no relation with size population or gross domestic product of the countries. There is also no relationship between the plastic residues generated by the COVID-19 tests and the confirmed cases. About 97% of the plastic residues from diagnostic tests for coronavirus are incinerated due to their hazardous nature to humans, but toxic chemicals are released into the environment during the process. In the short term, there is a need to reduce plastic waste and improve controls of gas emissions from incineration plants in countries where there is a deficit. In the long term, biodegradable biomedical manufacturing that are free of releasing toxic chemicals when they are incinerated, must be considered.

Keywords: Air pollution; COVID-19; Environment impacts; Human health; Plastic; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Unlabelled Image
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
World map of plastic residues (Log-tonnes) derived from RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 (our design with data from Table S2).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
World map of incantation plastic residues (Log-tonnes) derived from RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 (our design with data from Table S2).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Plastic residues (tonnes) derived from RT-PCR tests for coronavirus disease by continent (our design with data from Table S2).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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