مقاله انگلیسی جریانات مواد پلاستیکی تجهیزات حفاظت شخصی در برابر کووید-19 و مدیریت پسماند
Abstract
Graphical abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Research stream on COVID-19, plastic PPE and waste management
Methodology
Results: material flow of plastics pre-COVID-19 pandemic
PPE material flows and inventory during COVID-19 pandemic
Sensitivity analysis
Regulated PPE waste management
Policy implications and recommendations
Conclusions
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Declaration of competing interest
Acknowledgements
References
abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of countries to resource constraints while highlighting the indispensability of plastic. Personal protective equipment (PPE), comprising plastic materials, is experiencing an unusual increase in demand globally due to unprecedented consumption for the protection of healthcare workers and the general population. There is a need to model and better understand the material implications of the pandemic. In this research, material flow analysis was used to model the flow of plastic material preCOVID-19 in South Africa and the additional contribution of the COVID-19 PPE to the plastic footprint. Sankey diagrams were developed to capture the material flow analysis. The mass flow of PPE through the supply chain during the ongoing pandemic is relatively smaller compared to the total national plastic. However, the number of separate PPE items presents a major and growing problem for waste management systems. This paper puts the COVID-19 resource requirements into perspective in relation to South Africa's total national plastic and provides the first known estimate of COVID-19 plastic material resources and waste legacy.
Introduction
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented devastating impact globally. South Africa was declared the epicentre of the crisis in Africa by the World Health Organisation (WHO), with the highest number of confirmed cases at 775,502 as of 25 November 2020 (SACoronavirus, 2020). While the COVID-19 pandemic is directly a health problem, it has greatly impacted the global community economically, socially and environmentally.