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Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions
Face masks are an indispensable low-cost public healthcare necessity for containing viral transmission. After the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became a pandemic, there was an unprecedented demand for, and subsequent increase in face mask production and use, leading to global ecological challenges,...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier B.V.
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10174332/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37178835 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164055 |
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author | Wang, Limin Li, Shengxuan Ahmad, Ibrahim M. Zhang, Guiying Sun, Yanfeng Wang, Yang Sun, Congnan Jiang, Chuan Cui, Peng Li, Dongming |
author_facet | Wang, Limin Li, Shengxuan Ahmad, Ibrahim M. Zhang, Guiying Sun, Yanfeng Wang, Yang Sun, Congnan Jiang, Chuan Cui, Peng Li, Dongming |
author_sort | Wang, Limin |
collection | PubMed |
description | Face masks are an indispensable low-cost public healthcare necessity for containing viral transmission. After the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became a pandemic, there was an unprecedented demand for, and subsequent increase in face mask production and use, leading to global ecological challenges, including excessive resource consumption and significant environmental pollution. Here, we review the global demand volume for face masks and the associated energy consumption and pollution potential throughout their life cycle. First, the production and distribution processes consume petroleum-based raw materials and other energy sources and release greenhouse gases. Second, most methods of mask waste disposal result in secondary microplastic pollution and the release of toxic gases and organic substances. Third, face masks discarded in outdoor environments represent a new plastic pollutant and pose significant challenges to the environment and wildlife in various ecosystems. Therefore, the long-term impacts on environmental and wildlife health aspects related to the production, use, and disposal of face masks should be considered and urgently investigated. Here, we propose five reasonable countermeasures to alleviate these global-scale ecological crises induced by mask use during and following the COVID-19 pandemic era: increasing public awareness; improving mask waste management; innovating waste disposal methods; developing biodegradable masks; and formulating relevant policies and regulations. Implementation of these measures will help address the pollution caused by face masks. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10174332 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Elsevier B.V. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101743322023-05-12 Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions Wang, Limin Li, Shengxuan Ahmad, Ibrahim M. Zhang, Guiying Sun, Yanfeng Wang, Yang Sun, Congnan Jiang, Chuan Cui, Peng Li, Dongming Sci Total Environ Article Face masks are an indispensable low-cost public healthcare necessity for containing viral transmission. After the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became a pandemic, there was an unprecedented demand for, and subsequent increase in face mask production and use, leading to global ecological challenges, including excessive resource consumption and significant environmental pollution. Here, we review the global demand volume for face masks and the associated energy consumption and pollution potential throughout their life cycle. First, the production and distribution processes consume petroleum-based raw materials and other energy sources and release greenhouse gases. Second, most methods of mask waste disposal result in secondary microplastic pollution and the release of toxic gases and organic substances. Third, face masks discarded in outdoor environments represent a new plastic pollutant and pose significant challenges to the environment and wildlife in various ecosystems. Therefore, the long-term impacts on environmental and wildlife health aspects related to the production, use, and disposal of face masks should be considered and urgently investigated. Here, we propose five reasonable countermeasures to alleviate these global-scale ecological crises induced by mask use during and following the COVID-19 pandemic era: increasing public awareness; improving mask waste management; innovating waste disposal methods; developing biodegradable masks; and formulating relevant policies and regulations. Implementation of these measures will help address the pollution caused by face masks. Elsevier B.V. 2023-08-20 2023-05-11 /pmc/articles/PMC10174332/ /pubmed/37178835 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164055 Text en © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. |
spellingShingle | Article Wang, Limin Li, Shengxuan Ahmad, Ibrahim M. Zhang, Guiying Sun, Yanfeng Wang, Yang Sun, Congnan Jiang, Chuan Cui, Peng Li, Dongming Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions |
title | Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions |
title_full | Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions |
title_fullStr | Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions |
title_full_unstemmed | Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions |
title_short | Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions |
title_sort | global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10174332/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37178835 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164055 |
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