Challenges of increased usage of plastic during COVID and Possible Solutions

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic spreaded at the beginning of 2020, which brings lots of changes to our living habits The massive use of plastic products such as gloves, masks, protective clothing, and test kits put pressure on plastic waste treatment. There is not much research focused on plastic wastes that are generated during COVID and their treatment methods. This article discusses plastic waste in two aspects. The first is the damage of untreated plastic to the environment. The other is the analysis of current treatment methods for plastic and their advantage and disadvantages. The commonly used processes, including the incineration and landfilled processes, are discussed. Both incineration and landfill severely impact the environment and need to be transformed into a better process. Furthermore, new emerging technology such as pyrolysis and gasification can be developed into better thermal treatment methods because they have cleaner gas production and limit the production of toxic chemicals. Recycling is considered a favorable technique to treat plastic waste before COVID. However, during COVID, the preference for using plastic and the decrease in oil prices made this technology less competitive. Recommendations on the current plastic waste problem are made, including input gas cleaning systems such as carbon dioxide scrubbers, regulation of disposal of plastic, scale-up of pyrolysis and gasification process, and promoting the usage of biodegradable plastic.