Plástico residual: poluente expandido pela covid-19 e a atuação da biotecnologia em mitigar o dano ambiental

Abstract

With the advancement of technology, several products started to be produced with synthetic polymers, the well-known plastic. Because it has characteristics such as flexibility and malleability that provide it with great transformation power, it makes it the raw material for the most diverse items. Due to the current global pandemic scenario (COVID-19), safety and health measures were implemented to seek to control the advance and fatality of the disease, among which social isolation stands out. This measure contributed to the increase in the production of synthetic polymer derivatives, such as food packaging, bags, plastic films, among others. This increase can also be seen in the health area, as there was an increase in the manufacture of hospital utensils such as masks, gloves, blood bags, surgical gowns, endotracheal tubes, syringes in an attempt to reduce cross-contamination between people. The objective of this review is to discuss the increase in this plastic production influenced by new habits arising from the pandemic, its impacts on nature and what is the potential of biotechnology to help improve the degradation of these polymers in the environment and thus reduce their impacts on ecosystems. Using online databases and searching for keywords, it was estimated that plastic production has increased due to the need for plastic materials during the pandemic and that biotechnology guided by the omic sciences can be used to produce biopolymers and assisting in the eco-friendly degradation those polymers.