ArticleThe Science of the total environment2021
COVID-19 PPE plastic material flows and waste management: Quantification and implications for South Africa.
Article 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 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Fate of Microplastics, Derived from Disposable Masks, in Natural Aquatic Environments.Toxics · 2024Article
- A cross-jurisdictional comparison on residential waste collection rates during earlier waves of COVID-19.Sustainable cities and society · 2023Article
- Facemask: Protection or threat?Marine pollution bulletin · 2023Article
- Hospital waste generation during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in Delhi.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
- Statistical Analysis of the Long-Term Influence of COVID-19 on Waste Generation-A Case Study of Castellón in Spain.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- A critical synthesis of current peer-reviewed literature on the environmental and human health impacts of COVID-19 PPE litter: New findings and next steps.Journal of hazardous materials · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of countries to resource constraints while highlighting the indispensability of plastic. Personal protective equipment (PPE), comprising plastic materials, is experiencing an unusual increase in demand globally due to unprecedented consumption for the protection of healthcare workers and the general population. There is a need to model and better understand the material implications of the pandemic. In this research, material flow analysis was used to model the flow of plastic material pre-COVID-19 in South Africa and the additional contribution of the COVID-19 PPE to the plastic footprint. Sankey diagrams were developed to capture the material flow analysis. The mass flow of PPE through the supply chain during the ongoing pandemic is relatively smaller compared to the total national plastic. However, the number of separate PPE items presents a major and growing problem for waste management systems. This paper puts the COVID-19 resource requirements into perspective in relation to South Africa's total national plastic and provides the first known estimate of COVID-19 plastic material resources and waste legacy.
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Registered trials
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