ArticleJournal of environmental chemical engineering2021
COVID-19 pandemic and emerging plastic-based personal protective equipment waste pollution and management in Africa.
Article in Journal of environmental chemical engineering, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste: A review about virus surveillance, infectivity, and inactivation.Environmental research · 2022Pooled it
- Global plastics treaty negotiations and health-care system use of plastics, WHO African Region.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2026Article
- Spatial distribution and risk assessment of polychlorinated biphenyl compounds from open incineration of used medical disposable face masks.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Microbial degradation of microplastics: Effectiveness, challenges, and sustainable solutions.Current research in microbial sciences · 2025Review
- Waste Plastic to Roads - HDPE-modified Bitumen and PET Plastic Fibres for Road Maintenance in South Africa: A Review.Waste management & research : the journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA · 2024Review
- A New Paradigm on Waste-to-Energy Applying Hydrovoltaic Energy Harvesting Technology to Face Masks.Polymers · 2024Article
- Recycling facemasks into civil construction material to manage waste generated during COVID-19.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2024Article
- Article
- Designing super-fast trimodal sponges using recycled polypropylene for organics cleanup.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions.The Science of the total environment · 2023Review
- The Impacts of Plastic Waste from Personal Protective Equipment Used during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Polymers · 2023Review
- COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) contamination in coastal areas of Granada, Spain.Marine pollution bulletin · 2023Article
- The Plastic treaty: What is in it for Africa?Public health challenges · 2023Article
- Implication of nanotechnology to reduce the environmental risks of waste associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.RSC advances · 2023Review
- Face mask and medical waste generation in the City of Baguio, Philippines: its current management and GHG footprint.Journal of material cycles and waste management · 2023Article
- Plastic Waste: Challenges and Opportunities to Mitigate Pollution and Effective Management.International journal of environmental research · 2023Review
- Novel strategy in biohydrogen energy production from COVID - 19 plastic waste: A critical review.International journal of hydrogen energy · 2022Article
- Tracking the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic-related debris on wildlife using digital platforms.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- COVID-19, the environment and animal life in Malawi compared to other countries: A brief scooping review for a research agenda in the developing countries.Physics and chemistry of the earth (2002) · 2022Article
- To what extent do waste management strategies need adaptation to post-COVID-19?The Science of the total environment · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The threat of plastic waste pollution in African countries is increasing exponentially since the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus infection as a pandemic. Fundamental to this growing threat are multiple factors, including the increased public consumption for single-use plastics, limited or non-existence of adequate plastic waste management infrastructures, and urbanisation. Plastics-based personal protective equipment including millions of surgical masks, medical gowns, face shields, safety glasses, protective aprons, sanitiser containers, plastics shoes, and gloves have been widely used for the reduction of exposure risk to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This paper estimates and elucidates the growing plethora of plastic wastes in African countries in the context of the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectral fingerprint indicates that face masks were characterised by natural and artificial fibres including polyester fibres, polypropylene, natural latex resin. Our estimate suggests that over 12 billion medical and fabric face masks are discarded monthly, giving the likelihood that an equivalent of about 105,000 tonnes of face masks per month could be disposed into the environment by Africans. In general, 15 out of 57 African countries are significant plastic waste contributors with Nigeria (15%), Ethiopia (8.6%), Egypt (7.6%), DR Congo (6.7%), Tanzania (4.5%), and South Africa (4.4%) topping the list. Therefore, this expert insight is an attempt to draw the attention of governments, healthcare agencies, and the public to the potential risks of SARS-CoV-2-generated plastics (COVID plastic wastes), and the environmental impacts that could exacerbate the existing plastic pollution epidemic after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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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.