ReviewThe Science of the total environment2022
Environmental risks of disposable face masks during the pandemic of COVID-19: Challenges and management.
Review in The Science of the total environment, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Plastics and Sustainable Development - Identifying and Quantifying Ecodesign Strategies for Plastics.Global challenges (Hoboken, NJ) · 2026Review
- Towards green filtration: Thyme-based antibacterial nanofiber media as alternatives to synthetic counterparts.MethodsX · 2025Article
- Cu-ZnO Embedded in a Polydopamine Shell for the Generation of Antibacterial Surgical Face Masks.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Assessing the challenges to medical waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for the environmental sustainability in the emerging economies.Socio-economic planning sciences · 2023Article
- Functional Fiber Membranes with Antibacterial Properties for Face Masks.Advanced fiber materials · 2023Article
- Review
- Advanced and Smart Textiles during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Issues, Challenges, and Innovations.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Plasma degradation of contaminated PPE: an energy-efficient method to treat contaminated plastic waste.Npj Materials degradation · 2023Article
- Analysis of Marine Microplastic Pollution of Disposable Masks under COVID-19 Epidemic-A DPSIR Framework.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Insight into the microplastics release from disposable face mask: Simulated environment and removal strategy.Chemosphere · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Since the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, face mask (FM) has been recognized as an effective measure to reduce the infection, increasing its consumption across the world. However, the large amount of at-home FM usage changed traditional medical waste management practices, lack of improper management. Currently, few studies estimate FM consumption at a global scale, not to say a comprehensive investigation on the environmental risks of FM from a life cycle perspective. Therefore, global FM consumption and its associated environmental risks are clarified in the present study. Our result shows that 449.5 billion FMs were consumed from January 2020 to March 2021, with an average of 59.4 FMs per person worldwide. This review also provides a basis to understand the environmental risk of randomly disposed of FM and highlights the urgent requirement for the attention of FMs waste management to prevent pollution in the near future.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.