Essay title: critical response essay

Student name: Dina Dandesh

College: George Brown College
Course: Comm 2000
Instructor name: Cheryl Gullion
Due date: Oct 20th,2023
 After 5.5 million deaths and 321 million affected people, COVID-19 is still imposing a grave
hidden danger on humanity. In the article, “personal protective equipment (PPE) and plastic
pollution during COVID-19: strategies for a sustainable environment”, written by Fatima Ali Mazahir
and Ali Mazahir Al- Qamari, published on Reviews on Environmental Health on May 16th, 2022, an
overlooked effect of COVID-19 was highlighted which is the environmental Impact of the personal
protective equipment (PPE) used by healthcare workers. COVID-19 pandemic induced a jump in
plastic pollution of 700 million tons. Rainfalls and winds are the distribution factors of the PPE
related single -use plastic (SUP). It could also degrade to micro or nano particles polluting the land
and water. Moreover, the manufacturing, transportation, and degrading of plastic increase
greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Surprisingly, the amount of littered plastic is estimated to be 11
million tons by 2023 of which 34,000 tons are to be dumped in oceans and 87% of this plastic is
related to healthcare sector. The article introduced the 5R framework, current attempts to alleviate
the PPE related plastic problem, which stands for reduce, reuse, recycle, redesign, restructure.
Reducing PPE use policies were proposed by some hospitals during COVID-19, but they resulted in
poor compliance and overuse by the healthcare workers (HCWs) due to the misconception that the
supply shortage was the reason behind these policies, for this reason, regulations govern rational
use of PPE without endangering HCWs should be generalized to achieve behavior change.
Furthermore, Reusing N95 respirator after reprocessing during early pandemic time paved the way
for the PPE reuse concept. For the success of this concept, reprocessing procedures effectiveness
should be monitored by national and regional health regulatory bodies to eliminate doubts of
HCWs. The idea of recycling single-use facemasks into a new product such as garden equipment
was introduced but the infectious nature of the hospitals’ waste necessitates decontamination
procedures before recycling which could be costly. In addition, alternative plastic should be
considered such as bioplastic, biologically – derived polymers, which could cause a significant
reduction in global warming, however, it has certain limitations related to thermal stability and
deformation, so international efforts to research and ensure suitable industry transition to
bioplastic are crucially needed. The final concept to mention is the restructuring of waste disposal
system to prevent plastic accumulation. China’s mobile incinerations during the pandemic was
taken as an example. The number and efficiency of the disposal facilities should be compatible with
the degree of the waste management needs, and policies should be updated regarding this matter
(Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022).In my opinion, this article should be included as a reading material for
the GBC community due to the close relation between the article’s main message which is the
impact and solutions of PPE related plastic pollution and our field of practice as a heal thcare
students, the logical structure of ideas used by the author as a communication strategy by presenting the
problem, possible solutions, and any accompanying limitation, and the other strategy of using descriptive
details to deliver the shocking extension of the PPE related plastic pollution.
As healthcare students soon to be practitioners, and since the PPE use is a part of our everyday life,
in addition to the fact that PPE use is a major contributing factor to global plastic pollution, the message of
this article should model the focus of our studying materials. Every healthcare provider is required to wear a
standard set of PPE during patient care which include a gown, surgical mask or N95 respirator, gloves,
surgical hat, googles, shoes coverings (Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022). PPE use is mandated to protect both the
healthcare workers and the clients in various healthcare settings. And due to the high numbers of infected
people, death tolls, and the ability of COVID-19 virus to survive on surfaces, the SUP based PPE became an
integral part of the health system which caused the plastic production to nearly double during the pandemic
compared to 2018 (Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022). The massive jump in plastic production which eventually will
increase the amount of plastic waste, 87% of it belong to health sector, by exceeding the waste management
abilities and be dumped in the environment (Rizan et al as cited by Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022). To reiterate,
every healthcare student should read this article to realize that these items that we use every day have a
major degree of contribution to plastic pollution.
Another convincing reason to consume this article is the logical flow of ideas which makes it easy to
comprehend and indicates the authors' excellent communication skills. The authors begun by introducing
the problem and its extend through the use of statistics and modeling techniques, for example, Peng’s et al
estimation of the accumulated plastic to reach 11 million tons by the end of 2021, and the Rizan et al
modelling of GHG emissions in the UK which recorded 106,478 tons emitted due to production and disposal
of plastic mainly used in glove and aprons(Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022). Then, as a logical approach, the
authors proceeded to describe possible solution embodied by the 5R framework. Additionally, solutions
within the 5R framework were also proposed to tackle limitations, for example, in the redesign concept, the
authors mentioned the potentials of bioplastic in reducing global warming , its limitations, and provided a
suggested solution of harnessing efforts from governments and scientists around the world to study more of
its properties and benefits and implement an industry transition plan for all countries including the less
privileged (Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022). To summarize this point, teaching GBC community how to achieve
logical structure in writing combined with the benefit of achieving a better understanding of the most
pressing problem of the 21st century are good incentives to include this article in the shortlist.
 The second strategy used by the authors is the use of descriptive details of how the single use plastic
is distributed to the environment, and the detailed numbers representing the degree of plastic pollution to
produce the required reaction in the receptor. The single used plastic spread to land, water, and air was
illustrated in the article by script and a diagram which showed how plastic could either ends up as litters,
degraded to nano or micro particles and embedded in land and water , distributed by rain and wind to the
water, or contributes to global warming, air pollution and respiratory diseases due to its production,
transportation, and decomposition (Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022). Besides, the authors were attentive to
include some attention-grabbing numbers, for example, the 700 million tons of plastic production jump in
2020, the 11 million tons of plastic waste estimated by the end of 2023, and 106,478 tons of GHG emissions
in the first 6 months of the pandemic in UK (Mazahir& Al Qamari, 2022). These numbers along with the
description of the plastic distribution mechanism were intended to convince the readers of the serious
message they are presenting.
In conclusion, decision makers have an ethical responsibility to expose our GBC community to the
growing problem of plastic pollution detailed in this article because we, as healthcare students and
practitioner, are a major contributor to the problem, and the authors were successful in incorporating their
article with logical and detailed descriptions. Finally, protecting our planet should be a priority that starts
with understanding our contributions, responsibilities, and actively trying to help others realize the
devastating effect of plastic pollution.
 References:
Mazahir, F. & Al Qamari, A. (2022). Personal protective equipment (PPE) and plastic pollution
during COVID-19: strategies for a sustainable environment. Reviews on Environmental
Health, 37(3), 321-325. https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2022-0024