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Plastic waste release caused by COVID-19 and its fate in the global ocean

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, 2021-11, Vol.118 (47), p.1 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

Copyright National Academy of Sciences Nov 23, 2021 ;Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. 2021 ;ISSN: 0027-8424 ;EISSN: 1091-6490 ;DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111530118 ;PMID: 34751160

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  • Title:
    Plastic waste release caused by COVID-19 and its fate in the global ocean
  • Author: Peng, Yiming ; Wu, Peipei ; Schartup, Amina T. ; Zhang, Yanxu
  • Subjects: Biological Sciences ; Coronaviruses ; COVID-19 ; Developing countries ; Discharge ; Hospital wastes ; LDCs ; Medical wastes ; Ocean floor ; Pandemics ; Physical Sciences ; Plastic debris ; Polar environments ; Spatial distribution ; Waste management
  • Is Part Of: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, 2021-11, Vol.118 (47), p.1
  • Description: Significance Plastic waste causes harm to marine life and has become a major global environmental concern. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand for single-use plastic, intensifying pressure on this already out-of-control problem. This work shows that more than eight million tons of pandemic-associated plastic waste have been generated globally, with more than 25,000 tons entering the global ocean. Most of the plastic is from medical waste generated by hospitals that dwarfs the contribution from personal protection equipment and online-shopping package material. This poses a long-lasting problem for the ocean environment and is mainly accumulated on beaches and coastal sediments. We call for better medical waste management in pandemic epicenters, especially in developing countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand for single-use plastics that intensifies pressure on an already out-of-control global plastic waste problem. While it is suspected to be large, the magnitude and fate of this pandemic-associated mismanaged plastic waste are unknown. Here, we use our MITgcm ocean plastic model to quantify the impact of the pandemic on plastic discharge. We show that 8.4 ± 1.4 million tons of pandemic-associated plastic waste have been generated from 193 countries as of August 23, 2021, with 25.9 ± 3.8 thousand tons released into the global ocean representing 1.5 ± 0.2% of the global total riverine plastic discharge. The model projects that the spatial distribution of the discharge changes rapidly in the global ocean within 3 y, with a significant portion of plastic debris landing on the beach and seabed later and a circumpolar plastic accumulation zone will be formed in the Arctic. We find hospital waste represents the bulk of the global discharge (73%), and most of the global discharge is from Asia (72%), which calls for better management of medical waste in developing countries.
  • Publisher: Washington: National Academy of Sciences
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0027-8424
    EISSN: 1091-6490
    DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111530118
    PMID: 34751160
  • Source: Freely Accessible Journals
    PubMed Central
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