Increased personal protective equipment litter as a result of COVID-19 measures

Keiron Roberts; Sui Phang; John Williams; David Hutchinson; Simon Kolstoe; Jasper de Bie; Ian D. Williams; Anne M. Stringfellow

doi:10.1038/s41893-021-00824-1

Increased personal protective equipment litter as a result of COVID-19 measures

Keiron Roberts
, Sui Phang
, John Williams
, David Hutchinson
, Simon Kolstoe
, Jasper de Bie
, Ian D. Williams
, Anne M. Stringfellow

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

119 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce virus transmission. Here, we quantitatively analyse emergence of PPE and COVID-19-related litter over 14 months for 11 countries using the litter collection application Litterati. The proportion of masks in litter increased by >80-fold as a result of COVID-19 legislation, from <0.01% to >0.8%. Gloves and wipes, more prevalent at ~0.2% of litter before the pandemic, doubled to 0.4%, but this has since fallen. Glove litter increased in the initial stages of the pandemic but fell after the introduction of facemask policies, whereupon there was an increase of facemask litter. National COVID-19 policy responses and international World Health Organization announcements and recommendations are a probable driver of PPE litter dynamics, especially the implementation of facemask policies. Waste management should be incorporated in designing future pandemic policies to avoid negative environmental legacies of mismanaged PPE.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	272–279
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Sustainability
Volume	5
Early online date	9 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00824-1
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2022

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 14 Life Below Water
SDG 15 Life on Land

Keywords

Covid-19
pandemic
mask
glove
litter
environmental impact
behaviour
citizen science
global
legislation
policy
World Health Organization
government

Access to Document

10.1038/s41893-021-00824-1

Covid paper clean
This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00824-1.
Accepted author manuscript (Post-print), 679 KB

91 Citations
4 Article
1 Commissioned report

Artificial intelligence enhanced litter pollution mapping: integrating citizen science with geospatial and social data
Rezaei, H., Roberts, K., Arabikhan, F., Fletcher, S., March, A. L. A., Couceiro, F., Bacon, D., Hutchinson, D. & Williams, J., 1 Feb 2026, In: Environmental Modelling & Software. 197, 18 p., 106823.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Open Access
File
10 Downloads (Pure)
Harnessing citizen science to tackle urban-sourced ocean plastic pollution: Experiences and lessons learned from implementing city-wide surveys of plastic litter
Winton, S. J., Roberts, K., Bowyer, C. & Fletcher, S., 1 Jul 2023, In: Marine Pollution Bulletin. 192, 11 p., 115116.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Open Access
File
122 Downloads (Pure)
COVID litter: we mapped discarded masks and gloves in 11 countries with the help of citizen science
Roberts, K., Williams, I. D. & Kolstoe, S., 9 Dec 2021, The Conversation.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

Open Access
Policy Options to Eliminate Additional Marine Plastic Litter by 2050 under the G20 Osaka Blue Ocean Vision: An International Resource Panel Think Piece
Fletcher, S., Roberts, K., Shirian, Y., Virdin, J., Conesa Alcolea, I., Brown, A., Buzzi, E., Henderson, L., Laubinger, F., Milà i Canals, L., Salam, S., Anton Schmuck, S., Mira Veiga, J., Winton, S. J. & Marie Youngblood, K., 13 Jul 2021, United Nations Environment Programme. 56 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report

Open Access
File
Coronavirus face masks: an environmental disaster that might last generations
Roberts, K., Bowyer, C., Kolstoe, S. & Fletcher, S., 14 Aug 2020, The Conversation.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

Open Access

2 Finished

Policy options to reduce additional pollution by maritime plastic litter by 2050
Fletcher, S. (PI), Roberts, K. (CoI), Salam, S. (Team Member) & Winton, S. (Team Member)
3/02/20 → 31/07/20
Project: Research
CGUK: Connecting Innovation for Clean Growth (CGUK)
Hutchinson, D. (PI) & Roberts, K. (CoI)
1/04/18 → 30/06/22
Project: Research

Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence 2023
Roberts, K. (Recipient), Fletcher, S. (Recipient), Bowyer, C. (Recipient), Salam, S. (Recipient), Winton, S. (Recipient), Northen, S. (Recipient), Nieminen, L. K. (Recipient), Couceiro, F. (Recipient), March, A. (Recipient) & Evans, T. (Recipient), 28 Nov 2023
Prize: National/international honour

Cite this

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title = "Increased personal protective equipment litter as a result of COVID-19 measures",

abstract = "Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce virus transmission. Here, we quantitatively analyse emergence of PPE and COVID-19-related litter over 14 months for 11 countries using the litter collection application Litterati. The proportion of masks in litter increased by >80-fold as a result of COVID-19 legislation, from <0.01\% to >0.8\%. Gloves and wipes, more prevalent at \textasciitilde{}0.2\% of litter before the pandemic, doubled to 0.4\%, but this has since fallen. Glove litter increased in the initial stages of the pandemic but fell after the introduction of facemask policies, whereupon there was an increase of facemask litter. National COVID-19 policy responses and international World Health Organization announcements and recommendations are a probable driver of PPE litter dynamics, especially the implementation of facemask policies. Waste management should be incorporated in designing future pandemic policies to avoid negative environmental legacies of mismanaged PPE.",

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Increased personal protective equipment litter as a result of COVID-19 measures

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Research output

Projects

Prizes

Cite this