THE GROWING WASTE

& RECYCLING
PROBLEMS FROM PPE,
MASKS, AND COVID-19
HOW FAR THESE PPE
AND MASKS HAVE
GONE?

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 More than 12 months after the World Health Organization
(WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, humans are
still dependent on using PPE and mask for protection against
the virus.

The world uses 129 billion per month, 3 million a

minute, or 50,000 every second (Xu and Ren, 2021).

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As the world grapples with a glut
of plastics in its soil, drinking
water, and even the tip of Mt.
Everest, humans faced with a
new mountain of a
problem: trillions of discarded
masks with virtually no
solution to recycle them.

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But what most of the world hasn’t pictured is the convergence of
pandemics—because the masks people relied on to dampen
transmission aren’t just paper. They are polypropylene— the
same plastic used for drinking straws and ketchup bottles.

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MASK AND
so what are

PPE
made of?

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Surgical face masks (classic Sanitary gowns:  Disposable gloves: 
blue):  Non-woven polypropylene, Plastic, latex, vinyl
Three-ply construction with polyester, and/or (PVC), or nitrile.
smooth cellulose, “melt- polyethylene.
blown” polypropylene, and
polyester layers, plus a
metallic nose strip.

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The problem here is that nation like America’s current system of
recycling, called “single-stream”, isn’t equipped to handle any of it.

In the case of face masks, even the most precise MRFs cannot
separate the multi-material creation. Gowns and gloves, meanwhile,
are often made up of a collection of plastic materials—spanning
almost all designated numbers—that commercial and curbside
haulers reject. (Deer, 2021)

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PLASTIC RECYCLING SYMBOLS

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Polyethylene Terephthalate (No. 1 PETE / PET)

PETE is a clear, strong, and is it recyclable?

lightweight plastic that’s usually used
Polyethylene terephthalate is fully
for single-use food and drink
recyclable and the most common
packaging, like soda and water bottles,
plastic in circulation.
salad dressing bottles, and peanut
butter containers. 

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High-Density Polyethylene (No. 2 HDPE)

HDPE is another common type of is it recyclable?

plastic found in many household
HDPE is easy to recycle,
products like milk jugs, cleaning
and according to recent studies, can be
containers, and shampoo and
recycled up to 10 times for new
detergent bottles. HDPE is ideal for
products.
these types of consumer products
because it’s lightweight but durable.

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Polyvinyl Chloride (No. 3 PVC or V)
Polyvinylchloride
commonly referred to as “vinyl” or
“PVC,” is very versatile
and usually found in piping, medical
equipment, plastic gloves, building
products, water-resistant clothing,
and some food packaging. Vinyl is
ideal for these types of products
because of its strong, durable, and
flexible properties.  rate.
is it recyclable?
Polyvinyl chloride contains hazardous
chemicals that are known to be poisonous
to humans. Because of its many chemical
additives, vinyl/PVC products
are extremely difficult to recycle and are
not commonly accepted through curbside
recycling, explaining the 0.5% recycling
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Low-Density Polyethylene (No. 4 LDPE)

LDPE is best known for its use in is it recyclable?

shopping bags, squeezable bottles, The same qualities that make LDPE useful
furniture, clothing, and frozen food for bags and six-pack rings make it
packaging. Its flexibility and low difficult to recycle, frequently jamming or
weight makes it convenient for  damaging recycling equipment.
packaging purposes but extremely
difficult to recycle at most facilities
(more on that below). 

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Polypropylene (No. 5 PP)

Polypropylene is rigid, tough, and is it recyclable?

resistant to moisture, grease, and
chemicals. This type of plastic is
commonly used for ketchup bottles,
kitchen containers, straws, carpets,
rope, and medicine bottles. 
Polypropylene had been a commonly
accepted plastic for most curbside
recycling programs.

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Polystyrene (No. 6 PS)

Polystyrene, often generalized is it recyclable?

“Styrofoam” in the U.S., is Currently, polystyrene makes up about
incredibly lightweight and 35% of waste in U.S. landfills, and worse,
commonly disposed of after a single it’s believed it takes one million years to
use. It’s usually found in egg decompose in a landfill.
cartons, Styrofoam packaging,
packing peanuts, disposable cups,
and dinnerware.

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"OTHER" (No. 7)

“Other” refers to a miscellaneous is it recyclable?

category for all the plastics that "Other" plastics like polycarbonate often
didn't fit into the other six contain BPA and LEXAN, which can be
categories. Fiberglass, very harmful to human health if
polycarbonate, plexiglass, nylon and improperly disposed of. 
acrylics fabrics. Common products
under the ‘7’ symbol include baby
bottles, sunglasses, water cooler
bottles, DVDs, and sports
equipment.

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MASK
so whereAND
do

PPE
fall from the category?

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 surgical face
masks, sanitary Polypropylene,
mostly non
gowns, and polyester, and recyclable,
disposable gloves pvc hazardous, and about
million years to
decompose

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 FACING NEW CHALLENGES

According to the  American

Association for the
Across the world, the Advancement of Science,
majority of Earth’s 7.8 hospitals in Wuhan, the initial
billion people sought out epicenter of the COVID-19
PPE like masks and latex outbreak, produced more than
gloves to safeguard 240 tons of single-use plastic
medical waste (such as
themselves and their disposable face masks, gloves,
loved ones. and gowns) per day at the peak
of the pandemic—six times
more than the daily average
prior to the pandemic.

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Recognizing the fact that nearly all PPE and surgical mask are
designed with non-recyclable plastic, governments all over the world
are aware it’s going to pile up. Compounding the issue, plastic was
created to last a long time. 

So, the reality is those plastic-woven blue face masks and PPEs
will likely still be around—in the oceans, landfills, and hazmat
repositories for the next generations after pandemic.

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21
MASK AND
so where will all

PPE
go?

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The World Health
Organization (WHO) has
not released updated
guidelines for disposal but
reiterates that medical PPE
is a single-use plastic for a
reason—a non-closed loop
system wherein a mask
cannot become new mask.
THE DILEMMA
On that note, research
suggests that there could be
more plastic than fish in the
ocean by 2050. But now, with
the on-going Covid-19
pandemic, environmentalists
fear the world will soon run
the risk of having more
masks than jellyfish in our
oceans.
Once plastic enters the
environment, it can take
hundreds, or even thousands
of years to decompose. Due
to the nature of plastic, an
estimated 79% of this
material has already
accumulated in the natural
environment and landfills
prior to the pandemic.
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 THE DILEMMA

However, that numbers is likely to increase in the near future due to the
pandemic. A recent WWF report estimated that even if only one percent of
masks are disposed of incorrectly, 10 million will end up in the natural
environment per month.

Given these figures, environmentalists have good reason to be concerned about the risks
that could arise from coronavirus waste and what else is to come.

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 UNMASKING
POSSIBILITIES
It’s clear to see that in many ways, the pandemic has exposed just how critical
properly managing our waste and recycling truly is.

Newly developed behaviors brought on by COVID-19 are contributing to the

growing use of single-use plastics, effectively undoing the progress many
businesses, cities, and states were making to reduce them prior to the
pandemic—for instance, nearly all bans on plastic bags have been paused
for cited safety concerns.

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 T H E PA N A C E A
While many wait on a national program or global-scale recovery mission, others have imagined
what masks will become once they’ve left our faces:

Researchers from RMIT A French company collected The Venetian casino in Las
University in Australia 70,000 masks last year, Vegas pledged to recycle its
proposed assimilating melding them into a new type employees’ masks into plastic
discarded masks into the of plastic called Plaxtil that decking and railroad ties.
building of roads. A two-lane, can be made into visors and
0.62-mile stretch of this other products.
plastic-laced pavement will
use 3 million masks, keeping
93 tons of wearable
polypropylene out of the
landfill.

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Plaxtil: A French Firm Finds a Way
to Recycle Single-Use Face Masks

The used mask is quarantined first for 4four days

before being recycled. Afterwards, it is shredded
into pieces and irradiated with UV light. In this
way, the startup ensures that the mask remnants are
germ-free. Those small mask fragments are then
shredded down even further and mixed with a
binding agent to produce the company's "Plaxtil"
plastic product. The newly obtained raw plastic
material is currently being used to produce plastic
visors, but it can also be used to make other
products. (Berthold, 2020)

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Each of them is worth pursuing, but when possible, the best course of
action may be avoiding those classic plastics altogether.

Highlighting one ingenious idea, a Dutch design firm is behind a

biodegradable mask intended to be planted in the ground once discarded.
Once buried, seeds embedded in the covering will sprout flowers.

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Marie Bee Bloom
It is a biodegradable mask that is made from
layers of rice paper (or paper created with a
mixture of rice, water, and sometimes other
natural starches). Not only one can bury it in
the ground once done wearing it, but the
mask will also grow flowers: Inside the rice
paper there are flower seeds that can sprout
under the right conditions.

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 NOW IS THE BEST TIME

The pandemic has amplified how ill-equipped the world is to deal with our own waste
problems. As people navigate this unchartered territory, organizations and individuals
must transform the way they manage their waste in order to make a lasting impact.

Humans currently live in a society where everything is disposable, from plastic takeout
containers to surgical masks and gloves. Our ecosystems can no longer keep up with
this “take, make, waste” model—a linear supply chain—in which natural resources
are extracted, turned into products, sold to consumers, and used until they are
discarded.

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By adapting to a more circular economy,
businesses can design out waste and pollution,
keep products and materials in use, and
regenerate natural systems.

Just like COVID-19, our waste, plastic, and PPE

pandemics cannot be solved overnight. But
knowing how to pivot to sustainability,
responsibly dispose of waste, and recycle as much
as humanly possible is half the battle—and
humans must be committed to being part of the
solution.

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 SOURCES:
◉Elvis Genbo Xu, Zhiyong Jason Ren. Preventing masks from becoming the next plastic
problem. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 2021; 15 (6) DOI: 10.1007/s11783-021-1413-7
◉S. Cutler, “Mounting medical waste from COVID-19 emphasizes the need for a sustainable waste
management strategy” (Frost & Sullivan, 2020).
◉https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/even-mount-everest-facing-microplastic-pollution-new-study-
finds-180976389/
◉https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abd9925
◉https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/how-to-read-plastic-recycling-symbols
◉https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/the-new-plastics-economy-catalysing-action
◉https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/09/10/a-sea-of-pollution-new-widespread-contamination-in-oceans-
amid-coronavirus-pandemic/#

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PRESENTER
ERJIE T. YBANEZ, CE, ME
MEM-II Student

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THANKS!
for your time and presence.

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