Plastic wastes in the time of COVID-19: Their environmental hazards and implications for sustainable energy resilience and circular bio-economies

Abstract

The global scope of pollution from plastic waste is a well-known phenomenon associated with trade, mass consumption, and disposal of plastic products (e.g., personal protective equipment (PPE), viral test kits, and vacuum-packaged food). Recently, the scale of the problem has been exacerbated by increases in indoor livelihood activities during lockdowns imposed in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The present study describes the effects of increased plastic waste on environmental footprint and human health. Further, the technological/regulatory options and life cycle assessment (LCA) approach for sustainable plastic waste management are critically dealt in terms of their implications on energy resilience and circular economy. The abrupt increase in health-care waste during pandemic has been worsening environmental quality to undermine the sustainability in general. In addition, weathered plastic particles from PPE along with microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) can all adsorb chemical and microbial contaminants to pose a risk to ecosystems, biota, occupational safety, and human health. PPE-derived plastic pollution during the pandemic also jeopardizes sustainable development goals, energy resilience, and climate control measures. However, it is revealed that the pandemic can be regarded as an opportunity for explicit LCA to better address the problems associated with environmental footprints of plastic waste and to focus on sustainable management technologies such as circular bio-economies, biorefineries, and thermal gasification. Future researches in the energy-efficient clean technologies and circular bio-economies (or biorefineries) in concert with a "nexus" framework are expected to help reduce plastic waste into desirable directions.

Keywords: Biorefinery; Circular economy; Climate-smart health care; Face mask; Health risks; Plastic waste; Sustainable management.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

Increase in plastic waste volume from 2010 to 2018 and projected or estimated increase in the post–COVID-19 period (i.e., 2019–2050; excluding 2020).

Fig. 2

COVID-19 induced the disposal of plastic products and created multiple types of risks (carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and mutagenic) to living organisms that can be mediated through oxidative stress and hormonal imbalance. Inadequate plastic management techniques such as landfilling and anaerobic digestion produce hazardous leachates and antibiotic-resistance genes can perturb environmental quality.

Fig. 3

Direct and indirect pathways of human health risks due to the disposal of personal protective equipment (PPE)–derived microfibers, fomites, and micro- and nanoplastics (MPs/NPs).

Fig. 4

The need for a circular (bio) economy approach to a sustainable, energy-resilient, post–COVID-19 future to resolve environmental degradation, carbon-positive economies, and sustainability gaps based on plastic waste lifecycles associated with a linear economy.

Fig. 5

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of “waste to wealth” (i.e., conversion of PPE plastic waste into energy and value-added products through clean thermochemical technologies such as pyrolysis and gasification in managing circular economies and meeting United Nations SDGs.

Fig. 6

A circular bioeconomy approach to plastic waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic is inextricably linked with adequate progress toward SDGs, climate action, energy resilience, and climate-smart health care.