Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on Medical Waste Management: A Case Study Publisher



Kalantary RR^{1, 2} ; Jamshidi A³ ; Mofrad MMG^{4, 5} ; Jafari AJ^{1, 2} ; Heidari N² ; Fallahizadeh S² ; Hesami Arani M² ; Torkashvand J^{1, 2}
Source: Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering Published:2021

Abstract

Covid-19 Pandemic leads to medical services for the society all over the world. The Covid-19 pandemic influence the waste management and specially medical waste management. In this study, the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on medical waste was evaluated via assessing the solid waste generation, composition, and management status in five hospitals in Iran. The results indicated that the epidemic Covid-19 leads to increased waste generation on average 102.2 % in both private and public hospitals. In addition, the ratio of infectious waste in the studied hospitals increased by an average of 9 % in medical waste composition and 121 % compared with before COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in plans and management measurement such as increasing the frequency of waste collection per week leads to lower the risk of infection transmission from medical waste in the studied hospitals. The results obtained from the present research clearly show the changes in medical waste generation and waste composition within pandemic Covid-19. In addition, established new ward, Covid-19 ward with high-infected waste led to new challenges which should be managed properly by change in routine activities. © 2021, The Author(s).