Suggested guidelines for emergency treatment of medical waste during COVID-19: Chinese experience

Ma, Yue; Lin, Xiaoqing; Wu, Angjian; Huang, Qunxing; Li, Xiaodong; Yan, Jun

doi:10.1007/s42768-020-00039-8

Cited by 105 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Usually, Polypropylene is used to make N-95 masks, and Tyvek for protective suits, gloves, and medical face shields, which can persist for a long time and release dioxin and toxic elements to the environment (Singh et al, 2020). Though, experts and responsible authorities suggest for the proper disposal and segregation of household organic waste and plastic based protective equipment (hazardous medical waste), but mixing up these wastes increases the risk of disease transmission, and exposure to the virus of waste workers (Ma et al, 2020;Somani et al, 2020;Singh et al, 2020).…”

Section: Safety Equipment Use and Haphazard Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability

Rume

Islam

2020

Heliyon

434

260

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The global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is affecting every part of human lives, including the physical world. The measures taken to control the spread of the virus and the slowdown of economic activities have significant effects on the environment. Therefore, this study intends to explore the positive and negative environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, by reviewing the available scientific literatures. This study indicates that, the pandemic situation significantly improves air quality in different cities across the world, reduces GHGs emission, lessens water pollution and noise, and reduces the pressure on the tourist destinations, which may assist with the restoration of the ecological system. In addition, there are also some negative consequences of COVID-19, such as increase of medical waste, haphazard use and disposal of disinfectants, mask, and gloves; and burden of untreated wastes continuously endangering the environment. It seems that, economic activities will return soon after the pandemic, and the situation might change. Hence, this study also outlines possible ways to achieve long-term environmental benefits. It is expected that the proper implementation of the proposed strategies might be helpful for the global environmental sustainability.

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Section: Safety Equipment Use and Haphazard Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability

Rume

Islam

2020

Heliyon

434

260

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“…Based on such approach the country was able to increase its emergency hazardous waste disposal level by 6,066.80 t per day from its previous capacity of 4,902.80 t per day. The emergency disposal level was increased in Hubei Province and Wuhan city by 667.40 and 265.60 t per day from its previous capacity of 180 and 50 t per day, respectively [ 55 ]. In view of that practice countries (particularly developing countries like Bangladesh) can use similar approaches as emergency and post pandemic treatment option for the massive hazardous waste volume generated throughout the pandemic.…”

Section: Discussion and Future Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…industrial furnaces, cement, and brick kilns) that will settle down the challenges associated with the COVID-19 hazardous waste. However, during the incineration process discharge of pollutants in the atmosphere and water needs to be regulated to avoid transmission of disease and pollution of the environment [ 55 ]; a comprehensive recycling and other response strategies (i.e. reusable PPEs) against the SUP and PPE induced plastic as well as microplastic pollution in the land and sea for protection against the “secondary impacts upon health and the environment” [ 71 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced waste scenario: A short overview

Haque

Uddin

Sayem

et al. 2021

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

153

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“…The main technical process of the municipal solid waste incineration system in China is the same as that of the medical waste incineration system [11]. According to the "Classified rotary kiln incineration, fixed bed furnace incineration, and pyrolysis incineration [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring productivity of healthcare services under environmental constraints: Evidence from China

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Despite the growing literature on the efficiency and productivity of the Chinese healthcare system, less attention has been given to examining the undesirable outputs linked to healthcare services, including environmental pollution. Taking the atmospheric environmental pollution resulting from the incineration of medical waste as an undesirable output of the healthcare system, this study analyzed the growth and decomposition of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of healthcare services across 31 Chinese provinces during the period 2005-2016. Methods: The Meta-frontier undesirable super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) model and the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) Index were employed to analyze the growth and decomposition of TFP using the Max DEA software. Results: The results revealed that the years 2009 and 2015 marked significant changes in TFP of healthcare services in Chinese provinces. During the study period, the rate of technological change (TC) slowly declined, whereas the rate of efficiency change (EC) steadily increased. With the national average being the benchmark, the results indicated that: the TFP of 17 provinces and cities exceeded the average, the EC changes of 16 provinces and cities exceeded the average, the TC changes of 9 provinces and cities exceeded the average, and the in the Technology Gap Ratio (TGR) changes of 13 provinces and cities were above the national average. Conclusions: (1) The TFP of the healthcare services across China continued to decline slowly during the study period. (2) The effect of technical catch-up in the eastern, central, and western regions of China was significant across the three regions, whereas the effect of technical innovation was negative. (3) The TFP varied considerably among the Chinese provinces. These findings suggest that, under existing environmental constraints, relevant government departments should improve technical innovation in the supply of healthcare services and medical waste treatment, increase technical efficiency in the factor of healthcare production, strengthen regional health planning, and balance the development of regional healthcare.

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Suggested guidelines for emergency treatment of medical waste during COVID-19: Chinese experience

Cited by 105 publications

References 6 publications

Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability

Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced waste scenario: A short overview

Measuring productivity of healthcare services under environmental constraints: Evidence from China

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