Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution driven by COVID-19 pandemic in Marina Beach, the longest urban beach in Asia: Abundance, distribution, and analytical characterization

Gunasekaran Kannan; Bilal Mghili; Gabriel Enrique De-la-Torre; Prabhu Kolandhasamy; Mayakrishnan Machendiranathan; Mayavan Veeramuthu Rajeswari; Ayyappan Saravanakumar

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114476

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution driven by COVID-19 pandemic in Marina Beach, the longest urban beach in Asia: Abundance, distribution, and analytical characterization

Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Jan:186:114476. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114476. Epub 2022 Dec 7.

Authors

Gunasekaran Kannan¹, Bilal Mghili², Gabriel Enrique De-la-Torre³, Prabhu Kolandhasamy⁴, Mayakrishnan Machendiranathan⁵, Mayavan Veeramuthu Rajeswari⁶, Ayyappan Saravanakumar⁷

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Aquaculture, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai 600 119, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: bk.guna18@gmail.com.
² LESCB, URL-CNRST N 18, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Faculty of Sciences, Tetouan, Morocco.
³ Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Av. La Fontana 501, Lima 12, Peru.
⁴ Department of Marine Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620024, India.
⁵ Laboratory for Coastal Ocean Variation and Disaster Prediction, College of Ocean and Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, Guangdong, China.
⁶ Centre for Aquaculture, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai 600 119, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁷ Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai 608502, Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has enforced the use of personal protective equipment (PPE, masks and gloves). However, the mismanagement of litter are exacerbating the increasing plastic issue worldwide. In the present study, we sampled discarded PPE in 10 sites along Marina Beach, India. We characterized the litter types by chemical analysis techniques. A total of 1154 COVID-19-associated PPE items were found on Marina beach. The highest number of items were face masks (97.9 %) and the mean PPE density in the sites studied was 4 × 10^-3 PPE m^-2. The results demonstrate that poor solid waste management and lack of awareness are the main causes of pollution at Marina beach. FTIR spectroscopy revealed that face masks and gloves were principally made of polypropylene and latex, respectively. The FTIR spectra also showed signs of chemical degradation. Our results suggest that plastic pollution is increasing, possibly becoming more impactful to marine biota. Beach management measures were discussed.

Keywords: Coronavirus; India; Management; Microplastics; Plastic; Polypropylene.

MeSH terms

Asia
COVID-19*
Humans
Pandemics
Personal Protective Equipment
Plastics

Substances

Plastics