| Title |
Global plastic upcycling during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: The status and perspective |
| ID_Doc |
23925 |
| Authors |
Li, AN; Cui, HY; Sheng, YJ; Qiao, J; Li, XJ; Huang, H |
| Title |
Global plastic upcycling during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: The status and perspective |
| Year |
2023 |
| Published |
Journal Of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 11, 3 |
| DOI |
10.1016/j.jece.2023.110092 |
| Abstract |
Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues worldwide since the vast majority of post-consumer plastics are hard to degrade in the environment. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had disrupted the previous effort of plastic pollution mitigation to a great extent due to the overflow of plasticbased medical waste. In the post-pandemic era, the remaining challenge is how to motivate global action towards a plastic circular economy. The need for one package of sustainable and systematic plastic upcycling approaches has never been greater to address such a challenge. In this review, we summarized the threat of plastic pollution during COVID-19 to public health and ecosystem. In order to solve the aforementioned challenges, we present a shifting concept, regeneration value from plastic waste, that provides four promising pathways to achieve a sustainable circular economy: 1) Increasing reusability and biodegradability of plastics; 2) Transforming plastic waste into high-value products by chemical approaches; 3) The closed-loop recycling can be promoted by biodegradation; 4) Involving renewable energy into plastic upcycling. Additionally, the joint efforts from different social perspectives are also encouraged to create the necessary economic and environmental impetus for a circular economy. |
| Author Keywords |
Plastic pollution; Plastic upcycling; Biodegradation; Reusability and degradability; Renewable energy |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) |
| EID |
WOS:001041662200001 |
| WoS Category |
Engineering, Environmental; Engineering, Chemical |
| Research Area |
Engineering |
| PDF |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2023.110092
|