Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
Rev Environ Health. 2021 Sep 15;37(4):559-566. doi: 10.1515/reveh-2021-0092. Print 2022 Dec 16.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global emergency crisis and created waste management challenges worldwide. Such a critical point has changed solid waste (municipal and medical) management prospects and posed fact challenges to the health decision-makers and policy-makers to make decisions to ensure sustainable management of the environment. One of the most negative prospects of COVID-19 pandemic is the increased waste generation, especially plastic waste in developing and developed countries. This study systematically reviews the potential influences of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical and municipal waste, and discusses the corresponding measures and policies of solid waste management in several countries. The results show that the highest and lowest quality of final disposal is observed in Finland with 75% recycling and in India with 90% open dumping, respectively. In many countries, the medical waste showed an increase by 350-500%.The pandemic has brought particular problems to the disposal capacity of municipal waste and medical waste across the world. We think that this point of view study provides valuable data for scientists, policy makers, health decision-makers, consultants, medical staff, medical supplies, those working in public health sector, and field engineers responsible for solid waste management.
新冠疫情引发全球紧急危机，给全球各地的废物管理带来挑战。这一关键时刻改变了固体废物（城市和医疗）管理的前景，给卫生决策者和政策制定者带来了实际挑战，使其必须做出决策以确保环境的可持续管理。新冠疫情带来的最负面前景之一是垃圾产生量增加，尤其是在发展中国家和发达国家的塑料垃圾。本研究系统地回顾了新冠疫情对医疗和城市废物的潜在影响，并讨论了几个国家的固体废物管理的相应措施和政策。结果表明，最终处置的最高和最低质量分别出现在回收利用率为 75%的芬兰和露天倾倒率为 90%的印度。在许多国家，医疗废物的数量增加了 350-500%。疫情给世界各地的城市废物和医疗废物的处理能力带来了特殊问题。我们认为，本观点研究为科学家、政策制定者、卫生决策者、顾问、医务人员、医疗用品供应商、公共卫生部门工作人员以及负责固体废物管理的现场工程师提供了有价值的数据。
