Resolving the “health vs environment” dilemma with sustainable disinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic

The overuse of disinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic leads to an emerging “health versus environment” dilemma that humans have to face. Irresponsible and unnecessary disinfection should be avoided, while comprehensive evaluation of the health and environmental impacts of different disinfectants is urgently needed. From this discussion, we reach a tentative conclusion that hydrogen peroxide is a green disinfectant. Its on-demand production enables a circular economy model to solve the storage issues. Water, oxygen, and electrons are the only feedstock to generate H₂O₂. Upon completion of disinfection, H₂O₂ is rapidly converted back into water and oxygen. This model adopts several principles of green chemistry to ensure overall sustainability along the three stages of its whole life cycle, i.e., production, disinfection, and decomposition. Physical methods, particularly UV irradiation, also provide sustainable disinfection with minimal health and environmental impacts.