TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustainable management of plastic wastes in COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - The biochar solution
AU - Igalavithana, Avanthi D.
AU - Yuan, Xiangzhou
AU - Attanayake, Chammi P.
AU - Wang, Shujun
AU - You, Siming
AU - Tsang, Daniel C.W.
AU - Nzihou, Ange
AU - Ok, Yong Sik
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was carried out with the support of the Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ01475801 ) from Rural Development Administration , the Republic of Korea, the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government ( MSIT ) (No. 2021R1A2C2011734 ), and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education ( NRF-2021R1A6A1A10045235 ). This work was supported by OJEong Resilience Institute , Korea University , Republic of Korea.
Funding Information:
This work was carried out with the support of the Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ01475801 ) from Rural Development Administration , the Republic of Korea. This work was also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government ( MSIT ) (No. 2021R1A2C2011734 ) and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF- 2021R1A6A1A10045235 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - To prevent the COVID-19 transmission, personal protective equipment (PPE) and packaging materials have been extensively used but often managed inappropriately, generating huge amount of plastic waste. In this review, we comprehensively discussed the plastic products utilized and the types and amounts of plastic waste generated since the outbreak of COVID-19, and reviewed the potential treatments for these plastic wastes. Upcycling of plastic waste into biochar was addressed from the perspectives of both environmental protection and practical applications, which can be verified as promising materials for environmental protections and energy storages. Moreover, novel upcycling of plastic waste into biochar is beneficial to mitigate the ubiquitous plastic pollution, avoiding harmful impacts on human and ecosystem through direct and indirect micro-/nano-plastic transmission routes, and achieving the sustainable plastic waste management for value-added products, simultaneously. This suggests that the plastic waste could be treated as a valuable resource in an advanced and green manner.
AB - To prevent the COVID-19 transmission, personal protective equipment (PPE) and packaging materials have been extensively used but often managed inappropriately, generating huge amount of plastic waste. In this review, we comprehensively discussed the plastic products utilized and the types and amounts of plastic waste generated since the outbreak of COVID-19, and reviewed the potential treatments for these plastic wastes. Upcycling of plastic waste into biochar was addressed from the perspectives of both environmental protection and practical applications, which can be verified as promising materials for environmental protections and energy storages. Moreover, novel upcycling of plastic waste into biochar is beneficial to mitigate the ubiquitous plastic pollution, avoiding harmful impacts on human and ecosystem through direct and indirect micro-/nano-plastic transmission routes, and achieving the sustainable plastic waste management for value-added products, simultaneously. This suggests that the plastic waste could be treated as a valuable resource in an advanced and green manner.
KW - Circular economy
KW - Engineered biochar
KW - Environmental protection
KW - Plastic pollution
KW - Sustainable waste management
KW - Upcycling
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85131667102
U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113495
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113495
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35660402
AN - SCOPUS:85131667102
SN - 0013-9351
VL - 212
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
M1 - 113495
ER -
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production