Environmentally Sustainable Management of Used Personal Protective Equipment

摘要

Personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks, gloves, goggles, gowns, and aprons are essential items to help protect individuals from exposure to pathogens and contaminants. Traditionally, PPE use against pathogens was predominantly in the hospital environment. However, the COVID-19 global pandemic necessitated that PPE is now widely used in domestic situations, leading to shortages in the supply chain, and a rapid accumulation of potentially infectious PPE in domestic solid waste streams. The unprecedented domestic demand for PPE in response to the pandemic has also impacted other industries reliant on PPE, including manufacturing, construction, oil and gas energy, transportation, firefighting, and food production. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, increased production of plastic-based PPE equipment has been rapid. For example, between 2016 and 2020, the compound annual rate of increase in the global market for PPE was 6.5%, from approximately $40 Billion to $58 Billion.2 In contrast, the World Health Organization projected that PPE supplies must increase by 40% monthly to deal effectively the COVID-19 pandemic. The essential PPE includes an estimated 89 million medical masks, 76 million pairs of medical gloves, and 1.6 million pairs of goggles. The demand for PPE is not expected to decline substantially during the postpandemic period either, with an estimated compound annual growth of 20% in facial and surgical masks supply from 2020 to 2025.