Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Oct 7:2022:1066350.
doi: 10.1155/2022/1066350. eCollection 2022.

COVID-19: An Accelerator for Global Plastic Consumption and Its Implications

Moharana Choudhury  1   2 , Subhrajeet Sahoo  3 , Palas Samanta  4 , Arushi Tiwari  5 , Alavya Tiwari  6 , Utkarsh Chadha  7   8 , Preetam Bhardwaj  9 , Abhishek Nalluri  10 , Tolera Kuma Eticha  11 , Arghya Chakravorty  9   12   13
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19: An Accelerator for Global Plastic Consumption and Its Implications

Moharana Choudhury et al. J Environ Public Health. .

Abstract

Plastic has been ingrained in our society. Repercussions on the usage of nonbiodegradable plastics and their problems have been recently realized. Despite its detrimental environmental impact, the COVID-19 epidemic has compelled worldwide citizens to increase their plastic use due to affordability and availability. The volume of hospital solid waste, particularly plastics, is overgrowing due to an unexpected increase in medical waste, culminating in the global waste management catastrophe. Henceforth, adopting good waste management practices along with appropriate technologies and viewing the current issue from a fresh perspective would be an opportunity in this current scenario. Accordingly, this review study will focus on the plastic waste scenario before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. This review also disseminates alternative disposal options and recommends practical solutions to lessen human reliance on traditional plastics. Further, the responsibilities of various legislative and regulatory authorities at the local, regional, and worldwide levels are addressed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no relevant financial or nonfinancial interests to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Circulation of microplastics in soil, water, and atmosphere [adapted with permission from [34]; Elsevier].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The interaction of microplastics with other environmental contaminants along with their influencing factors [adapted with permission from [34]; Elsevier].
Figure 3
Figure 3
COVID-19-related waste, and its potential long-term solutions [adapted with permission (under CC.BY. 4.0) from [67]; Springer].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Plastic production volume in India FY-2015-2021 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067510/india-performance-plastics-production-volume/.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Plastic production volume in China FY-2012-2022 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1255628/plastic-product-production-in-china/.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Global plastic production volume FY-1950-2020 https://www.statista.com/statistics/282732/global-production-of-plastics-since-1950/.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Highlights for plastic product life cycle assessment and circular economy [adapted with permission (under CC.BY. 4.0) from [78]; MDPI].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Huber G., Argyropoulos D., Matharu A., et al. Bio-based materials: general discussion. Faraday Discussions . 2017;202:121–139. doi: 10.1039/C7FD90047C. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wong S. L., Ngadi N., Abdullah T. A. T., Inuwa I. M. Current state and future prospects of plastic waste as source of fuel: a review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews . 2015;50:1167–1180. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.063. - DOI
    1. UNEP. Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability. 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/07/26/million-plastic-bottl... .
    1. Kish R. J. Using legislation to reduce one-time plastic bag usage. Economic Affairs . 2018;38(2):224–239. doi: 10.1111/ecaf.12287. - DOI
    1. Los Angeles Times. 2018. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-straws-on-request-201801... .