Mahmoudnia Ali, Mehrdadi Nasser, Golbabaei Kootenaei Farshad, Rahmati Deiranloei Masood, Al-E-Ahmad Elham
Department of Built Environment, School of Engineering, Aalto University, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.
Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
J Hazard Mater Adv. 2022 Aug;7:100109. doi: 10.1016/j.hazadv.2022.100109. Epub 2022 Jun 13.
Personal protective equipments (PPEs) are essential protective products for individuals exposed to microorganism, toxic substances, and pathogens. However, the advent of the coronavirus pandemic generated a heavy demand for PPE, which has led to a rapid accumulation of plastic waste related to potentially infectious PPE in the urban waste stream. Mismanagement of these wastes can lead to subsequent environmental problems. This study estimates the daily consumption of facemasks, gloves, and daily medical waste generation during the SARs-CoV-2 pandemic in the selected 33 countries worldwide. The results indicate that China used the highest daily facemasks and gloves among these selected countries, followed by India, the US, Brazil, Indonesia, and Japan. Moreover, India is the first one in medical waste production, followed by the USA, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain. The article also provides viable strategies and discusses the pros and cons of strategies to address the unprecedented generation of plastic waste material during the pandemic. This manuscript also encourages scientific communities and policymakers to pay exceptional attention to the pandemic's plastic waste.
个人防护装备（PPE）是接触微生物、有毒物质和病原体的个人必备的防护用品。然而，新冠疫情的出现导致对个人防护装备的需求大增，这使得城市垃圾流中与潜在传染性个人防护装备相关的塑料垃圾迅速堆积。这些废物管理不善会导致后续的环境问题。本研究估算了全球33个选定国家在新冠疫情期间口罩、手套的每日消耗量以及每日医疗废物的产生量。结果表明，在这些选定国家中，中国的每日口罩和手套使用量最高，其次是印度、美国、巴西、印度尼西亚和日本。此外，印度是医疗废物产量第一的国家，其次是美国、巴西、英国、法国和西班牙。本文还提供了可行的策略，并讨论了应对疫情期间前所未有的塑料废物产生的策略的优缺点。本手稿还鼓励科学界和政策制定者特别关注疫情期间的塑料废物问题。
