Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution driven by COVID-19 pandemic in Marina Beach, the longest urban beach in Asia: Abundance, distribution, and analytical characterization

Personal protective equipment-derived pollution during Covid-19 era: A critical review of ecotoxicology impacts, intervention strategies, and future challenges

“…Therefore, the study mechanism to extract PPE materials was mainly FTIR spectroscopy and the point count method ( Marnn et al, 2021 ; Kannan et al, 2023 ). However, there is a need for methodological advancements to improve the efficiency and accuracy of PPE material extraction.…”

Abundance, spatial distribution, and chemical characterization of face masks on the beaches of SE Kanyakumari, India

“…Recent studies indicate that PPE pollution caused by the COVID-19 epidemic in the coastal region is receiving more attention globally ( Hatami et al, 2022 ; De-la-Torre et al, 2022 ; Mghili et al, 2022 ; Ribeiro et al, 2022 ; Akhbarizadeh et al, 2021 ). Current research about marine pollution and a significant source of marine litter in India has been published ( Karthikeyan et al, 2022 ; Karthikeyan et al, 2021a , Karthikeyan et al, 2021b ; Kaladharan et al, 2017 ; Arun Kumar et al, 2016 ; Ganesapandian et al, 2011 ), as well as studies about plastics ( Sivadas et al, 2021 ), microplastics ( Karthikeyan et al, 2022 ; Sathish et al, 2019 ; Jeyasanta et al, 2020 ; Vidyasakar et al, 2020 ), PPE mask ( Gunasekaran et al, 2022 ; Kannan et al, 2023 ) entering the marine environment. This study aims to (1) identify PPE mask density, spatial distribution, and abundance and (2) recognize PPE mask from chemical characterization using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.…”

“…Similarly, beaches were contaminated with recreational and fishing activities on the east coast of India ( Gunasekaran et al, 2022 ; Kannan et al, 2023 ); the influence of tourism in Santos, Brazil ( Ribeiro et al, 2022 ). PPE is likely to pose an entanglement and ingestion risk to marine life in Indian coastal waters.…”

“…Similarly, the face masks extracted from the environment reported in India ( Gunasekaran et al, 2022 ; Kannan et al, 2023 ), Moroccan Mediterranean ( Mghili et al, 2022 ); Kenyan coast ( Okuku et al, 2020 ); Peru and Argentina ( De-la-Torre et al, 2022 ); Ethiopia ( Aragaw et al, 2022 ), and the Persian Gulf ( Mohamadi et al, 2023 ). These modifications are the result of sun exposure, which caused chain scission and subsequent oxidation of the polymer chains ( Gewert et al, 2018 ).…”

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Environmental Health (Two Sides of the Same Coin): A Systematic Review

“…Furthermore, the increase in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and gloves has also caused an increase in the production of waste and the release of these wastes into the environment and increased environmental pollution, especially with microplastic particles. [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86] According to the results of a systematic review by Jiang et al 74 (2022), the increase in medical waste related to COVID-19, such as PPE, leads to severe pollution that threatens the marine ecosystem and wildlife.…”