College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510641, China.
Institute of Eco-Environmental Research, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning 530007, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Apr 1;815:152980. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.152980. Epub 2022 Jan 8.
The indispensable role of plastic products in our daily life is highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic again. Disposable face masks, made of polymer materials, as effective and cheap personal protective equipment (PPE), have been extensively used by the public to slow down the viral transmission. The repercussions of this have generated million tons of plastic waste being littered into the environment because of the improper disposal and mismanagement amid. And plastic waste can release microplastics (MPs) with the help of physical, chemical and biological processes, which is placing a huge MPs contamination burden on the ecosystem. In this work, the knowledge regarding to the combined effects of MPs and pollutants from the release of face masks and the impacts of wasted face masks and MPs on the environment (terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem) was systematically discussed. In view of these, some green technologies were put forward to reduce the amounts of discarded face masks in the environment, therefore minimizing MPs pollution at its source. Moreover, some recommendations for future research directions were proposed based on the remaining knowledge gaps. In a word, MPs pollution linked to face masks should be a focus worldwide.
在新冠疫情期间，塑料制品在我们日常生活中不可或缺的作用再次得到凸显。一次性口罩由聚合物材料制成，作为有效且廉价的个人防护设备（PPE），被公众广泛使用以减缓病毒传播。但由于处置不当和管理不善，这导致数以百万吨计的塑料废物被随意丢弃到环境中。而且，在物理、化学和生物过程的作用下，塑料废物会释放出微塑料（MPs），这给生态系统带来了巨大的 MPs 污染负担。在这项工作中，我们系统地讨论了口罩释放的 MPs 和污染物以及废弃口罩和 MPs 对环境（陆地和水生生态系统）的综合影响方面的知识。鉴于此，我们提出了一些绿色技术来减少环境中废弃口罩的数量，从而从源头减少 MPs 污染。此外，还根据尚存的知识空白提出了未来研究方向的建议。总之，与口罩相关的 MPs 污染应成为全球关注的焦点。
