Microfibers Pollution Associated with Disposable PPE Products Driven by the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Environmental Repercussions

Abstract

Personal protective equipment (PPE) and its inadequate disposal during the global COVID-19 pandemic have become a new type of waste that threatens the environment and could potentially harm human health. PPE waste, such as surgical and cloth face masks, and gloves, have been widely used during this pandemic and manufactured from low cost-polymers that, when exposed to the environment, tend to suffer aging processes releasing thousands of microfibers/nanofibers (MFs/NFs) of different range sizes, and chemical contaminants (e.g., heavy metals, nanoparticles, phthalates). This has aggravated the global problem of MFs/NFs contamination in aquatic environments resulting in a higher pollution load in the short, medium, and long term. The present chapter addresses the multiple variables involved in the release of microfibers/nanofibers (MFs/NFs) from PPE and face masks, the experimental approaches and measurements in laboratory studies, ecotoxicological implications, and quantification/ characterization methods for MFs/NFs.