Abstract
The whole world today is facing an enormous increase in plastic waste pollution caused by the emergence of the COVID – 19 pandemic. A complex chemical composition of personal protective equipment (PPE) mainly containing polypropylene (PP) complicates the recycling process and it could take at least 450 years to degrade. Plastic pollution was already one of the greatest threats to our planet before the coronavirus outbreak. Disposal of millions of contaminated PPEs would end up as wastes, which, if improperly managed, can generate tonnes of plastic waste and consequently plastic pollution which is a significant threat to oceans and marine life. Eight million tons of plastic waste already end up in the world’s oceans every year, and the impact of COVID-19 will only increase those figures. To reduce the amount of waste after using face masks and gloves which ends up in the environment have been proposed by different waste management companies and discussed in detail. Moreover, an eco-friendly way for photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene via TiO2-based nanomaterials under solar irradiation is present. Catalytic conversion of PP is also proposed for the reduction of environmental pollution. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of plastic pollution and discussing potential strategies to overcome them.
Highlights
The emergence of the novel human coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019 has increased the presence of face masks and medical waste in the environment, thereby demanding the urgent prevention and control of the pandemic COVID-19 (Sangkham, 2020)
This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of plastic pollution and discussing potential strategies to overcome them
According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), face masks and gloves used to combat the pandemic after use should not be mixed with other waste, i.e. it should not be disposed of in bins intended for the recycling of packaging, cans or organic waste, but in special bins
Summary
2.1 Chemical composition of face masks Disposable face masks are usually made of polypropylene (PP). Depending on the complexity of the chemical composition of plastics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), lowdensity polyethylene (LDPE)/linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and PP the percentages of their recycling success differ. The additional problem is that some PP plastics include a stabilizer to prevent decay In this context, if the PP polymer is successfully recycled into the new material, this material must contain additional stabilizers to give the "newly made" material the same oxidative stability, while stabilizer accumulation and sacrificial stabilizer degradation products contribute proportionately to deterioration of PP properties. PP as one of the most commonly used materials for plastic packaging, is mostly find in landfills, because the percentage of its recycling is only 1% Another disadvantage is the long process of decomposition, so the time required is even between twenty and thirty years. For the production of new clothes or playground equipment a mixture of recycled and raw polypropylene up to 50% is usually used (Thomas, 2020)
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