Research pick: Six steps to safer pandemic waste disposal - "Environmental pollution from COVID-19 generated wastes result in widespread recycling of SARS-CoV-2 infection"

According to the World Health Organisation, tens of thousands of tonnes of extra medical waste from the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put incredible strain on healthcare waste-management systems particularly where infrastructure was already limited in the developing nations. Plastic waste, needles, test kits, masks, and liquid waste represent a significant disposal problem but also a direct risk to individuals required to handle and process such waste in terms of potential needle stick injuries, burns from corrosive chemicals, and exposure to pathogens, including the causative agent of SARS-CoV-2.

Researchers from the University of Benin, Nigeria writing in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management point out that at the height of the pandemic and to this day was not being appropriately handled and contaminated materials were often seen to be overflowing from bins outside hospitals and simply accumulating untreated piles representing a health risk to staff, patients, and the general public should they come into contact with these materials.

The team of Efosa Bolaji Odigie, Osaze Blessing Airiagbonbu, Joyce Osarogie Odigie, and Adiru Afolabi Adegboye suggest that the mishandling of healthcare waste could represent a serious risk of pathogens recirculating and reinfecting. A lack of awareness, negligence, ignorance, and inept infrastructure are all to blame for the problem, the team suggests. They suggest that disinfection followed by incineration is critical to reducing the ongoing risk from healthcare materials.

In their summary, the team offers a six-point approach to dealing with medical waste to reduce the potential risks.

First, they suggest that waste generated from management of COVID-19 should be collected, handled, and disposed of aseptically before management by trained waste collectors. The materials must not be recycled. Secondly, such waste should be stored for as short a period as possible before disposal. Their third point suggests that hospital administrators must ensure waste does not enter the environment. Fourthly, that same administration must work with professional waste mangers to ensure policies are in place to monitor the management and disposal of COVID-19 generated waste.

The team’s final two points address regulatory and governmental issues and they suggest that there needs to be raised awareness of the dangers and risks associated with improper healthcare waste management in this pandemic era particularly with the relevant authorities and that governments in developing and under-developed countries should urgently put into law the necessary regulations to ensure that waste disposal standards are in place and upheld.

This work should help guide us with respect to COVID-19 healthcare waste disposal but will also stand us in good stead in terms of addressing similar issues when we face subsequent pandemics.

Odigie, E.B., Airiagbonbu, O.B., Odigie, J.O. and Adegboye, A.A. (2022) ‘Environmental pollution from COVID-19 generated wastes result in widespread recycling of SARS-CoV-2 infection’, Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.1–13.