Plastics in the time of COVID-19 pandemic: Protector or polluter?

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2021-03, Vol.759, p.144274-144274, Article 144274
• Main Authors: Parashar, Neha, Hait, Subrata
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Circular economy; COVID-19; Humans; Pandemics; Personal Protective Equipment; Personal protective equipment (PPEs); Plastics; PPEs decontamination; Recycling; Review; SARS-CoV-2; Single-use plastics (SUPs); Sustainable plastic waste management
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144274

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. [Display omitted] •COVID-19 pandemic has reemphasized the indispensable role of plastics in our daily life.•Usage of PPEs and packing materials amid COVID-19 is causing plastic pandemic worldwide.•Provisional reversal or stay on SUPs ban during COVID-19 may change consumers' behavior.•Effective decontamination for reprocessing of PPEs reduces plastic waste generation.•Automated waste management and product innovation may lead to environmental sustainability.