Upcycling medical plastic waste into activated carbons toward environmental safety and sustainability

The ubiquitous plastic pollution poses a critical crisis to our human beings and entire ecosystem, and such medical plastic waste-caused environmental pollution is further being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we reviewed an emerging technical route on upcycling of plastic waste into activated carbons for CO₂ capture, which is beneficial to achieving “waste-to-resource” strategy and mitigating both plastic pollution and climate change, simultaneously. Machine learning effectively accelerates the synthesis of activated carbon with high-performance CO₂ adsorption for sustainable plastic management. Cyclic performance indicators need to be evaluated to determine the application potential of the medical plastic waste-derived activated carbons. Such novel upcycling treatment is verified as a sustainable and practical route from perspectives of environmental sustainability and economic feasibility, providing a practical option for the goal achievement of United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution.