Environmental impact of increased soap consumption during COVID-19 pandemic: Biodegradable soap production and sustainable packaging

Abstract

A year into the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the role of washing hands with soap and hand disinfectants is unavoidable as a primary way to control the infection spread in communities and healthcare facilities. The extraordinary surge in demand for handwashing products has led to environmental concerns. Since soaps are complex mixtures of toxic and persistent active ingredients, the prudent option is to promote eco-friendly replacements for the current products. On the other hand, with the increase in soap packaging waste production, soap packaging waste management and recycling become essential to reduce environmental impact. This systematic review aimed to collect some recent methods for identifying biodegradable and sustainable raw materials to produce and package cleaning agents, especially soap.

COVID-19 Impact on Public Health, Environment, Human Psychology, Global Socioeconomy, and Education

“…Protecting water resources has become an even more complicated challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has negatively impacted water quality: First, there is a great possibility of transmitting and detecting ribonucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater through the stools of people infected with this virus [ 36 ]. Second, the high consumption of water and the high use of detergents in the period of COVID-19 allowed the transmission of several organic and metallic compounds in domestic waters and consequently the degradation of the water quality [ 10 ] ( Figure 2 ). For this reason, decision makers recommended to control new harmful species present in water during the period of COVID-19 and to carry out strategies for the sustainable management of water resources.…”

“…Donzelli et al (2021) have shown that, in many cities around the world, the streets are cleared of their cars and passers-by, factories have closed, and many flights have been canceled, implying a significant drop in emissions from toxic gases and consequently improved air quality [ 9 ]. Chirani et al (2021) have shown that the increase in waste that comes from infected people and hospitals leads to the deterioration of water quality which could turn into a source of transmission of the virus [ 10 ]. However, the implementation of actions and decisions to control the virus has resulted in the reduction of economic activities following the shutdown of most businesses and consequently the reduced use of public transport and the overall decrease in consumption of electricity, thus implying a decline in the production of thermal and/or nuclear power stations and an increase in renewable energies in the electricity mix [ 11 ].…”

Skin Cleansing without or with Compromise: Soaps and Syndets

“…While soaps and syndets are similar in that they cleanse dirt and impurities from the surface of the skin, their distinct chemical properties and physiological effects can be markedly different [ 3 , 9 , 10 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ] ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…This makes surfactants a key component of skin maintenance. However, not all surfactants are created equal, with some, namely soap-based surfactants, creating more problems than they address [ 3 , 9 , 10 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”

Implications of COVID-19 pandemic on environmental compartments: Is plastic pollution a major issue?

“…With the COVID-19 pandemic persistence, wastewater effluents ended up increasing substantially ( Qarani, 2020 ), containing massive loads of disinfectants ( Silva et al, 2021 ), soaps, and detergents ( Chirani et al, 2021 ) to reduce virus transmission, along with antimicrobials ( Kumar et al, 2021 ) and antiviral drugs ( Kuroda et al, 2021 ) to deal with the disease symptoms. For example, from the outbreak until 2020 March, the city of Wuhan (China) dispensed at least 2000 tons of disinfectants ( Zhang et al, 2020 ).…”