ReviewThe Science of the total environment2021
Plastics in the time of COVID-19 pandemic: Protector or polluter?
Review in The Science of the total environment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 76 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed.
- Assessment of different physicochemical parameters of leachates from two locally unbranded yogurt containers in Erbil City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.Italian journal of food safety · 2026Article
- Microplastic Pollution: Advancements in Mitigation, Policy Challenges, and Future Directions.Current microbiology · 2026Review
- Article
- Scalable Biosynthesis and Recovery of Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate Produced from Cotton-Derived Glucose byPolymers · 2025Article
- Microplastics as an Emerging Potential Threat: Toxicity, Life Cycle Assessment, and Management.Toxics · 2024Review
- Understanding of environmental pollution and its anthropogenic impacts on biological resources during the COVID-19 period.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2024Review
- Plastic waste management during and post Covid19 pandemic: Challenges and strategies towards circular economy.Heliyon · 2024Review
- Significantly High Melting Temperature of Homopolymer Crystals Obtained in a Poly(l-Lactic Acid)/Poly(d-Lactic Acid) (50/50) Blend.ACS omega · 2023Article
- Identifying the determinants of face mask disposal behavior and policy implications: An application of the extended theory of planned behavior.Resources, conservation & recycling advances · 2023Article
- Fate of microplastics under the influence of climate change.iScience · 2023Review
- Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions.The Science of the total environment · 2023Review
- Personal protective equipment-derived pollution during Covid-19 era: A critical review of ecotoxicology impacts, intervention strategies, and future challenges.The Science of the total environment · 2023Review
- Sustainable Solution for Plastic Pollution: Upcycling Waste Polypropylene Masks for Effective Oil-Spill Management.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on waste generation: Focus on plastic, food, and medical wastes in South Korea.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Personal protective equipment and micro-nano plastics: A review of an unavoidable interrelation for a global well-being hazard.Hygiene and environmental health advances · 2023Review
- Biomedical waste plastic: bacteria, disinfection and recycling technologies-a comprehensive review.International journal of environmental science and technology : IJEST · 2023Review
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) disposal during COVID-19: An emerging source of microplastic and microfiber pollution in the environment.The Science of the total environment · 2023Review
- The Role of Bacterial Polyhydroalkanoate (PHA) in a Sustainable Future: A Review on the Biological Diversity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Plastic wastes in the time of COVID-19: Their environmental hazards and implications for sustainable energy resilience and circular bio-economies.The Science of the total environment · 2023Review
- Experimental investigation on the use of COVID-19 waste in bituminous concrete.Materials today. Proceedings · 2023Article
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has reemphasized the indispensable role of plastics in our daily life. Plastics in terms of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and other single-use medical equipment along with packaging solutions owing to their inherent properties have emerged as a life-savior for protecting the health and safety of the frontline health workers and the common citizens during the pandemic. However, plastics have been deemed as evil polluter due to their indiscriminate littering and mismanagement amid increased plastic usage and waste generation during this unprecedented crisis. This article reviews and assesses to dwell upon whether plastics in the time of pandemic are acting as protector of the public health or polluter of the environment. Considering the utilities and limitations of plastic along with its management or mismanagement, and the fate, an equitable appraisal suggests that the consumers' irresponsible behavior, and attitude and poor awareness, and the stress on waste management infrastructure in terms of collection, operation, and financial constraints as the major drivers, leading to mismanagement, turn plastic into an evil polluter of the environment. Plastic can be a protector if managed properly and complemented by the circular economy strategies in terms of reduction, recycle and recovery, and thereby preventing leakage into the environment. To safeguard the supply chain of PPEs, several decontamination techniques have been adopted worldwide ensuring their effective reprocessing to prioritize the circular economy within the system. Policy guidelines encouraging to adopt safer practices and sustainable technical solutions along with consumers' education for awareness creation are the need of the hour for preventing plastic to turn from protector with high utility to polluter.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.