As we work together collectively to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and minimize its impact, we find it of extreme importance to highlight waste management as a critical line of defense, especially in the healthcare industry. Role of Waste Management in Fighting COVID-19
Healthcare, research and testing facilities that are inspecting and treating COVID-19 cases need to pay extra attention to their medical waste systems in these critical times to ensure proper segregation, handling and disposal without fail.
Waste management service providers on the other hand are required to be more vigilant than ever and implement tighter measures to prevent the spread of the disease through waste streams or waste management processes.
Focus on medical waste
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that it is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems likely tobehave like other coronaviruses. A recent review of the survival of human coronaviruses on surfaces found large variability, ranging from 2 hours to 9 days. The survival time depends on a number of factors, including the type of surface, temperature, relative humidity and specific strain of the virus.
WHO also reports that there is no evidence to date that the COVID-19 virus has been transmitted via sewerage systems with or without wastewater treatment.
These reports eliminate wastewater and to a certain extent municipal solid waste streams from the equation while the primary focus remains on the medical waste stream as a source of risk.
Process
Medical waste is typically segregated at the source (within the healthcare facility) and stored there for a while before taken out for disposal or in some cases pre-treatment on-site before disposal.
When segregating, medical waste is generally classified into infectious, pathological, sharps, pharmaceutical, chemical, radioactive and general waste. Different categories call for different handling, containers and labelling. For instance, highly infectious waste is usually kept in yellow autoclavable leak-proof plastic bags marked “Highly Infectious” and with the biohazard symbol. This ensures proper handling and disposal. However, general healthcare waste is kept in standard black plastic bags which don’t call for the same level of attention as the highly infectious waste.
In these unprecedented times we believe both healthcare establishments and waste management service providers should remain vigilant and consider potential risk almost equally across all categories and exercise extra care when handling all types of medical waste.
Medical waste management at Seco
SECO is approved by Qatar Muncipality for the transportation of different types of hazardous waste including medical, clinical, and pharmaceutical waste. Imdaad’s waste management division has a dedicated team and fleet for biomedical waste management carrying over 500 tons of medical waste every year which is about a quarter of the entire medical waste generated in Qatar.
The most widely used treatment for medical waste in Qatar is incineration which is handled exclusively by Qatar Municipality through its vertical combustor incineration facility with a capacity of almost 20 tons per day. The resulting ash is typically transferred to a dedicated sanitary landfill.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, SECO has increased its preventative measures throughout the medical waste disposal process. As an example, SECO is disinfecting the bags before using them in the process to minimize the exposure to the virus.
Recover
SECO in association with MEDWISH/ UNICEF/WHO/ NHS recovers usable medical surplus from approximately 120 healthcare institutions world wide.
Sort & Repurpose
Volunteers and staff sort, quality check and pack the medical supplies and donate globally surplus with the aid of more than 8,000 volunteers.
Redistribute
Our partners place orders that are shipped in suitcases, on pallets or in cargo containers. In 2018 alone, MedWish delivered over 265,000 pounds of supplies to 45 countries. Also, nonprofits repurpose items to help animals, kids and neighborhoods thrive locally. MedWish donated more than 21,000 pounds of non-medical supplies through the Alternative Recycling Program during last year.