Sustainable management of plastic wastes in COVID-19 pandemic: the biochar solution

Igalavithana, A. D., Yuan, X., Attanayake, C. P., Wang, S., You, S. , Tsang, D. C.W., Nzihou, A. and Ok, Y. S. (2022) Sustainable management of plastic wastes in COVID-19 pandemic: the biochar solution. Environmental Research, 212(Part E), 113495. (doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113495) (PMID:35660402) (PMCID:PMC9155208)

Abstract

To prevent the COVID-19 transmission, personal protective equipment (PPE) and packaging materials have been extensively used but often managed inappropriately, generating huge amount of plastic waste. In this review, we comprehensively discussed the plastic products utilized and the types and amounts of plastic waste generated since the outbreak of COVID-19, and reviewed the potential treatments for these plastic wastes. Upcycling of plastic waste into biochar was addressed from the perspectives of both environmental protection and practical applications, which can be verified as promising materials for environmental protections and energy storages. Moreover, novel upcycling of plastic waste into biochar is beneficial to mitigate the ubiquitous plastic pollution, avoiding harmful impacts on human and ecosystem through direct and indirect micro-/nano-plastic transmission routes, and achieving the sustainable plastic waste management for value-added products, simultaneously. This suggests that the plastic waste could be treated as a valuable resource in an advanced and green manner.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was carried out with the support of the Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ01475801) from Rural Development Administration, the Republic of Korea. This work was also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2021R1A2C2011734) and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2021R1A6A1A10045235).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: You, Dr Siming
• Authors: Igalavithana, A. D., Yuan, X., Attanayake, C. P., Wang, S., You, S., Tsang, D. C.W., Nzihou, A., and Ok, Y. S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Environmental Research
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0013-9351
• ISSN (Online): 1096-0953
• Published Online: 01 June 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc.
• First Published: First published in Environmental Research 212(Part E): 113495
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy