The world is suffering from aggravating, waste-generated consequences, and the contribution of microplastics to this problem is only increasing. A contributing factor to increased microplastic usage is the change in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) from specific use in limited locations (e.g., hospitals) to general use in widespread locations to protect against the current COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in an overflow of microfiber waste from homes, schools, streets, and elsewhere, in every country. While various institutes have issued warnings regarding increasing PPE waste, there is no positive indication of an end to the pandemic in the near future. In this review, we examine the impact of the pandemic on microplastic production, consumption, and disposal, and suggest strategies for lessening environmental pollution. In preparation for the worst-case scenario in which PPE becomes a new normal (in the COVID-19 era), it is recommended that governments and other responsible organisations set up a structured monitoring system for the distribution and disposal of PPE to ensure the most effective waste management possible for continuous sustainable development.

<p><span>Natural phenomena like hyporheic zone depths show intrinsic statistical behavior due to large variability of related parameters. In the previous researches, authors proposed a deterministic method to delineate hyporheic zone depth using a simple field temperature measurement, and studied a probabilistic method to present a proper statistical distribution model for hyporheic zone depth. As a next step forward, this research proposes remediation strategies on contaminated groundwater system in relation to hyporheic zone depth management. Primarily, demand of hyporheic zone depth to achieve a required recovery ratio is predetermined. The field hyporheic zone depth is, then, changed according to each strategies. The two probabilistic variables, demand and field values, are modified such that the difference are reduced. </span></p><p><span>The index applied to evaluate each strategy in this paper was adopted from the concept of reliability index. This approach is frequently used in many fields of science and engineering, including a safety design of structures. The key point of safety design involves sufficiency of safety margins between a strength criterion and the requirements, and this is what the reliability index evaluates. The paper is structured to introduce reliability-based approach in terms of general concept and hyporheic zone depth management first, and proceeds to a development of index. The paper concludes with performance evaluation of strategies. This paper is of value because a combination of the previous research on the probabilistic property extraction of hyporheic zone depth and the presented approach of performance evaluation has potential to offer another useful tool to the remediation of contaminated groundwater.</span></p><p><span>Acknowledgement: This research was funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment through the strategic EcoSSSoil Project at the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (grant no.</span><span> </span><span>2019002820004) and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education (grant numbers 2019R1I1A2A01057002 and 2019R1A61A0303</span></p>

No abstract

Today the world is going through the “Plastic Age.” Nowadays, it is difficult to find a commonly used convenient item that is nonplastic. Plastic production and consumption, thus, increased exponentially and plastic emerged as one of the major concerns for waste management. Recent studies confirmed a faster rate of plastic degradation than previously believed under various conditions (e.g. saltwater, UV, soil interaction) that microplastic has become a new type of health-hazardous pollution source. Much research has been conducted since the discovery of the “Pacific Garbage Patch,” and the scope has expanded from marine to soil, groundwater, air, and food chain. This article underwent a substantial amount of literature review to verify the degree of microplastic pollution progression in major pillars of the environment (aqueous, terrestrial, airborne, bio-organism, and human). Multiple kinds of literature indicated a high possibility of vigorous interaction among the pillars that microplastic is not stationary at the point of contamination but travels across the nation (transboundary) and medium (transmedium). Thus, only the waste reduction policy (i.e. production and consumption reduction) would be effective through a single national or local effort, while pollution and contamination management require more of a collective, if not global, approach. For these characteristics, this article proposes two most urgently required actions to combat microplastic pollution: (a) global acknowledgement of microplastic as transboundary and transmedium pollution source that require international collective action and (b) standardization of microplastic related research including basic definition and experimental specification to secure global comparativeness among data analysis. Without resolving these two issues, it could be very difficult to obtain an accurate global status mapping of microplastic pollution to design effective and efficient global microplastic pollution management policies.