Assessment of COVID-19 Waste Flows During the Emergency State in Romania and Related Public Health and Environmental Concerns

Repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic on solid waste generation and management strategies

It has been over ten months since the beginning of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-2019), and its impact on solid waste management, especially medical waste, is becoming clearer. This study systematically reviews the potential influences of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical waste, personal protection equipment waste and municipal solid waste (MSW), and discusses the corresponding measures and policies of solid waste management in typical countries. The results show that the generation of medical waste from the pandemic increased significantly, with 18%-425% growth. It is estimated that the daily output of COVID-19 medical waste increased from 200 t/d on Feb. 22 to over 29000 t/d at the end of September 2020 throughout the world. The use of personal protective equipment will continue to grow in the long-term, while the blockade and isolation measures greatly reduced the volume of commercial waste, especially for tourist cities, and part of this waste was transferred to household waste. Residents' attitudes and behavior toward food waste have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, international organizations and several countries have issued new policies and guidelines and adjusted their management strategies for medical waste and MSW treatment. The pandemic has brought specific challenges to the disposal capacity of medical waste worldwide. It has also brought about the stagnation of policies related to the reduction of plastic products and waste recycling. This study will provide some useful information for managers and governmental officials on effective solid waste management during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Face mask and medical waste disposal during the novel COVID-19 pandemic in Asia

The origin of the novel human coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its potential for harm increased face mask and medical waste in the environment, thereby necessitating the urgent prevention and control of the pandemic. The article estimates the face mask and medical waste generation in Asia during the pandemic to convince the waste management and scientific communities to find ways to address the negative impact that the waste disposal has on the environment. Standardisation, procedures, guidelines and strict implementation of medical waste management related to COVID-19, community habitats and public areas should be carefully considered to reduce pandemic risks in hospitals, as proper medical waste disposal effectively controls infection sources.

Path Optimization of Medical Waste Transport Routes in the Emergent Public Health Event of COVID-19: A Hybrid Optimization Algorithm Based on the Immune-Ant Colony Algorithm

In response to the emergent public health event of COVID-19, the efficiency of transport of medical waste from hospitals to disposal stations is a worthwhile issue to study. In this paper, based on the actual situation of COVID-19 and environmental impact assessment guidelines, an immune algorithm is used to establish a location model of urban medical waste storage sites. In view of the selection of temporary storage stations and realistic transportation demand, an efficiency-of-transport model of medical waste between hospitals and temporary storage stations is established by using an ant colony-tabu hybrid algorithm. In order to specify such status, Wuhan city in Hubei Province, China-considered the first city to suffer from COVID-19-was chosen as an example of verification; the two-level model and the immune algorithm-ant colony optimization-tabu search (IA-ACO-TS) algorithm were used for simulation and testing, which achieved good verification. To a certain extent, the model and the algorithm are proposed to solve the problem of medical waste disposal, based on transit temporary storage stations, which we are convinced will have far-reaching significance for China and other countries to dispatch medical waste in response to such public health emergencies.