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. 2021 Nov 20:796:148951.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148951. Epub 2021 Jul 10.

Plastic waste footprint in the context of COVID-19: Reduction challenges and policy recommendations towards sustainable development goals

Suraj K Mallick  1 , Malay Pramanik  2 , Biswajit Maity  3 , Pritiranjan Das  3 , Mehebub Sahana  4
Affiliations

Plastic waste footprint in the context of COVID-19: Reduction challenges and policy recommendations towards sustainable development goals

Suraj K Mallick et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

The sudden surge in demand to use plastic products due to COVID-19 pandemic has increased plastic pollution. It has resulted into degradation of a broad range of habitats and ecosystems by destroying natural functions, water quality, and environmental sustainability. However, the government agencies, scientific communities, and the public, have started to give attention to this issue. So, in the present study, we used the correlation methods to check the relationship between COVID-19 affected population with the medical plastic waste (MPW) that has developed a conceptual model of the inter-linkages between the preventive measures of COVID-19 pandemic problems and the reduction challenges of plastic waste during and after pandemic scenarios. Emerging issues in the waste management during and after the COVID-19 are established by reviewing the literature, reports, policy briefs, and information from the website concerning COVID-19. Considering MPW management issues, we selected India as a case study to analyse the plastic waste footprint (PWF) due to COVID-19 pandemic. The correlation results showed COVID-19 affected population and MPW; COVID-19 affected population and PWF have a significant relationship (R2 = 0.60; Area under ROC curve 81.4%). It suggests an urgent need for plastic waste management initiatives. Moreover, substantial plastic products, human awareness, strict government regulations, and inclusive research can check plastic waste footprints in India and worldwide. Then discuss the specific pathways through which the immediate and long-term impacts operate and highlight the issues of hampering the sustainable development goals (SDGs) progress in India and beyond. Finally, call for coordinated assessment, support and appropriate short- and long-term mitigation and the policy measures of plastic waste problems during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Environmental sustainability; Medical plastic waste; Plastic pollution; Plastic waste footprint (PWF); Sustainable development goals.

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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
Conceptual framework of plastic pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic and its reduction challenges.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Country-wise total or partial ban of single-use-plastics (SUPs) and styrofoam regulations.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Impacts of COVID-19 driven pandemic on plastic wastes and environment.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
(A) An instance in the Indian context: state-wise COVID-19 affected zone (source: covidindia.org); (B) state-wise generation of medical plastic waste (source: CPCB, 2020); (C) State-wise total population in India, 2020 (source: http://uidai.gov.in); and (D) Plastic waste footprint map based on the data of major cities from June 2020 to November 2020.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Results of linear regression, the residual plot between predicted versus standard residuals based on COVID-19 affected population and medical plastic waste (MPW) from June 2020 to November 2020.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Validation curve between COVID-19 affected population and PWF.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Eco-environmental procedures for plastic waste management.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
This diagram shows different SDGs related to plastic waste (e.g. medical, municipal, and others) and specific strategies for plastic waste management after the pandemic to achieve the target of SDGs.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Inter-linkages between medical plastic waste and UN's sustainable development goals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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