Environmental risks of disposable face masks during the pandemic of COVID-19: Challenges and management

Bing Li; Yuxiong Huang; Dengting Guo; Yuzhi Liu; Ziyi Liu; Jing-Cheng Han; Jian Zhao; Xiaoshan Zhu; Yuefei Huang; Zhenyu Wang; Baoshan Xing

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153880

Environmental risks of disposable face masks during the pandemic of COVID-19: Challenges and management

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 15:825:153880. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153880. Epub 2022 Feb 18.

Authors

Bing Li¹, Yuxiong Huang², Dengting Guo³, Yuzhi Liu², Ziyi Liu², Jing-Cheng Han⁴, Jian Zhao⁵, Xiaoshan Zhu⁶, Yuefei Huang¹, Zhenyu Wang⁷, Baoshan Xing⁸

Affiliations

¹ Water Research Center, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China.
² Water Research Center, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
³ Water Research Center, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; Chemical and Materials Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
⁴ Water Science and Environmental Engineering Research Centre, College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, PR China.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 214122, PR China.
⁶ Water Research Center, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: zhu.xiaoshan@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁷ Institute of Environmental Process and Pollution Control, School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, PR China.
⁸ Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. Electronic address: bx@umass.edu.

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Face mask; Microplastics; Plastic pollution; Toxic chemicals.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Humans
Masks
Pandemics
Plastics
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Plastics