scholarly journals Effects of Mismanagement of Medical and Plastic Waste in Pre and During COVID-19 Outbreak

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanapat Thutsaringkarnsakul ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Mariana Trench ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Medical Wastes

Many countries already have problems with waste management, but when the COVID-19 outbreak happens, the existing problems are worsened. This review aims to examine how mismanagement of medical and plastic waste affects the environment and people, especially those who work in healthcare facilities. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that the majority of issues stemmed from mismanagement of plastic waste. For example, plastic waste can be seen in various places, such as the deepest oceanic floor, The Mariana trench, which is proved by microplastics found in amphipods’ digestive tract living down there. Apart from environmental effects, the economy is also affected by plastic pollution as the tourism business has decreased in Korea and USA due to the increasing amount of plastic waste. While normal plastic waste can largely affect society, medical wastes seem to pose more severe consequences as medical wastes might be contaminated, pathologic, and radioactive. However, during the pandemic, the usage of both medical and plastic waste has increased in general. Mismanaged waste also carries COVID-19 like other pathogens, and the virus can survive on it for a long period of time, making any mismanaged waste a risk factor. Incinerated ashes from medical waste used for fighting the virus can also cause pollution as they contain heavy metals. In conclusion, mismanaged plastic waste mostly affects the environment, while mismanaged medical waste might carry harmful pathogens, including the COVID-19, putting people at risk. More actions need to be done to improve the effectiveness of waste management procedures.

Profile of medical waste management in two healthcare facilities in Lagos, Nigeria: a case study

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 494-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibijoke Idowu ◽  
Babajide Alo ◽  
William Atherton ◽  
Rafid Al Khaddar
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Medical Waste Management

scholarly journals New Policy Framework with Plastic Waste Control Plan for Effective Plastic Waste Management

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6049
Author(s):  
Sun-Kyoung Shin ◽  
Namil Um ◽  
Yong-Jun Kim ◽  
Na-Hyeon Cho ◽  
Tae-Wan Jeon
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Circulation System ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Control Plan

With an increasing use of plastic, considerable plastic waste is generated, threatening the environment and public health. In particular, changes in living patterns in urban areas have significantly impacted the rate at which plastic waste increases every year. Thus, governments in many developed countries have implemented numerous policies to reduce plastic waste generation. Among them is the concept of circular economy that aims to protect the environment from plastic pollution and promote growth and innovation in industry and human life through overall changes in designing, producing, using, and recycling plastic products. The Korean government has implemented the Resource Circulation Act (RCA), which includes the concept of circular economy and resource efficiency policy for overall waste management. Following the concept of RCA, the Plastic Waste Control Plan (PWCP) was established for the comprehensive management of plastic waste. Therefore, this study introduces the goals and strategies of PWCP, which has a circulation system of four stages of production, consumption, discharge, and recycling, as well as the major roadblocks in the stages impeding the achievement of the goals and strategies. This study also suggests countermeasures at the government level for solving the major problems in the four stages.

Medical Waste: A Minimal Hazard

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 682-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Keene
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New York ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Treatment And Disposal ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Potential Public Health ◽  
Medical Wastes

Healthcare providers need to be aware of the facts regarding the environmental impact of regulated medical wastes and be prepared to voice concern over unnecessary and costly regulations. The wash-ups of waste, a small percentage of which was medical waste, on the beaches on New York and New Jersey in the summers of 1987 and 1988 prompted an immediate response by state and federal governments. Although it was demonstrated that this medical waste did not originate in healthcare facilities,' the public demanded that their elected representatives do something about what they perceived to be the degradation of the environment and a risk to public health caused by “uncontrolled dumping” of “medical wastes” into the ocean. As a result of these and other occurrences, several environmental concerns regarding the treatment and disposal of medical waste were voiced by the public and acknowledged by the legislators. These included the following: aesthetic damage to the environment; potential public health problems associated with infectious agents in medical waste; and potential environmental contamination with hazardous chemicals and radioactivity associated with medical wastes.

Marine plastic waste input between 1990-2015 and potential beaching scenarios

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Laufkoetter ◽  
Kevin Lang ◽  
Fabio Benedetti ◽  
Victor Onink ◽  
Meike Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Lagrangian Model ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Waste Production

<p>Marine plastic pollution has been recognized as a serious issue of global concern with substantial risks for marine ecosystems, fisheries, and food supply to people. Yet, the amount of plastic entering the ocean from land and rivers is barely understood. Currently, estimates exist for the coastal plastic input in the year 2010 on country-level resolution and for riverine plastic input for the year 2017. Key limitations are the restricted data availability on plastic waste production, waste collection and waste management. In addition, the transport of mismanaged plastic via wind and rivers is currently not well understood.</p><p>We present a model to estimate the global plastic input to the ocean for the years 1990-2015 on a 0.1x0.1° raster. To this end, we first train a machine learning model (random forests) and a linear mixed model to predict plastic waste production on country level, using data of municipal waste collection and several socio-economic predictor variables. We then estimate the amount of plastic waste that enters the environment, using high resolution population data and waste management data of each country. This is combined with distance-based probabilities of land and river transport to obtain the annual amount of plastic entering the ocean on a 0.1x0.1° spatial resolution. Our results indicate that global plastic waste production increased roughly linearly between 1990 to 2015. However, estimating the amount of mismanaged waste and the subsequent transport towards the ocean is afflicted with high uncertainties.</p><p>We then use the estimated plastic input into the ocean to force several Lagrangian model runs. These Lagrangian simulations include different parameterizations of plastic beaching, in particular they vary in terms of the beaching probabilities and the assumed residence time of plastic on beaches. We present the global distribution of beached plastic and the size of the reservoir of beached plastic in these model scenarios.</p>

scholarly journals Knowledge and attitude of nurse professionals towards medical waste management at Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar: a cross-sectional study

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1228
Author(s):  
Fatema Musa ◽  
Ayatullah A. Mohamed ◽  
Nagah Selim
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Hamad Medical Corporation ◽  
Medical Waste Management

Background: The improper management of wastes generated in health care facilities can severely affect the health of caregivers, patients and members of the community. Medical waste management can be achieved with the cooperation of all workers and patients; however, nursing personnel play a significant role in the whole process. Therefore, this study was done to evaluate the knowledge of nursing professionals regarding waste management in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) hospitals in Doha and to assess their attitude towards medical waste management.Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at 4 governmental hospitals in Doha city; Hamad General Hospital (HGH), Women's Hospital (WH), Rumiallalh Hospital (RH) and Al-Amal hospital among 420 nurses.Results: The response rate among nurses were 82.3%, most of them are female and non-Qatari. On analyzing data on knowledge about waste management procedures, it was found that the most widely reported procedures was segregation (89.9%) and incineration (84.9%). Almost all nurses (99.4%) believed that training and education regarding medical waste is required for all staff, also 98.8% of the studied nurses agreed that attending medical waste management program is beneficial.Conclusions: Knowledge of most studied nurses regarding medical waste management was found to be high and had positive attitude.

Estimation of Amounts of Waste Generated from Healthcare Facilities

2001 ◽  
pp. 215-226
Author(s):  
Mohamad K. Kayyal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Human Infection ◽  
Toxic Substances ◽  
Medical Facility ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Healthcare Facilities

In response to government and public pressures, the healthcare industry has in the past few years directed a significant effort toward the proper and safe management of its medical waste streams. Medical waste is classified as a biohazardous waste, which according to a study published by the United States Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (1990), may result in human infection and transfer of disease. This includes injury and infection with the Hepatitis B Virus (HVB) and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), by janitorial and laundry workers, nurses, emergency medical personnel, and refuse workers who may come into contact with medical waste. In a recent survey conducted in the United States and Japan, and reported by the World Heath Organization (WHO) (1994), it was found that injuries by sharps constitute about 1% to 2% per annum for nurses and maintenance workers and 18% per annum for outside waste management workers. In Japan, the survey indicated that injuries by sharps constitute about 67% for in-hospital waste handlers and 44% for outside waste management workers. In order to reduce the risks associated with medical waste, proper management mechanisms should be adopted by healthcare facilities to protect the health of the staff within the medical facility, waste collectors/workers, and the public once the waste has left the facility for final disposal. These mechanisms include waste identification, segregation, storage, and treatment. However, and as a first step in the implementation of a waste management system, the management of a medical facility should conduct an audit of the generated waste streams.

scholarly journals PLASTIC POLLUTION MANAGEMENT: A PANACEA FOR NIGERIA S UNTAPPED WASTE TO WEALTH GROWTH; A STUDY OF SOME SELECTED URBAN CITIES IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIAENUGU, OWERRI, AWKA AND UMUAHIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (06) ◽  
pp. 599-609
Author(s):  
Patrick E. Ejim ◽  
◽  
Jude Eze ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Wealth Creation ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Pollution Management ◽  
Employment Generation ◽  
Positive Effect

The study investigated on the plastic pollution management: A panacea for Nigerias untapped waste to wealth growth: A study of some selected urban cities in south east Nigeria Enugu, Owerri, Awka and Umuahia. The specific objectives include to: examine the extent management of plastic waste have aided employment generation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria, Nigeria determine the extent value chain network of plastic management has aided wealth creation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria. The study adopted a cross sectional survey. The study instrument includes Garbage picking kits, health hazard prevention materials, waste selector machines, questionnaire, video coverage and security kits to help the research attendants for easy identification. Procedure: The study identified various dump sites across the cities mentioned. Out of a population of 6,454 staff, the sample size of 1096 was chosen after applying the Freund and Williams formula for the determination of adequate sample size. Out of the sample size of 912 returned the questionnaire and accurately filled. That gave 83 percent response rate. The validity of the instrument was tested using content analysis and the result was good. The reliability was tested using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). It gave a reliability co-efficient of 0.85 which was also good. Data was presented and analyzed by mean score (3.0 and above agreed while below 3.0 disagreed) and standard deviation using Sprint Likert Scale. The hypotheses were analyzed using Z- test statistics tool. The findings of the reveals that management of plastic waste has positive effect on employment generation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria r (85, n = 1096) = 24.471, p < 0.05 value chain network of plastic management had positive effect on wealth creation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria r (85, n = 1096) = 46.882, p < 0.05. The study concluded that in order for solid waste management and plastic production systems to coevolved towards maximizing recycling as a strategy for plastic waste management. The study recommended among others, that there is a need to formulate and enforce a plastic bag regulation primarily to do away with the menace and to guide any such endeavors.

scholarly journals EVALUATION on SOLID MEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE DISTRICT HOSPITAL OF BANGIl PASURUAN 2014

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dian Hasanah ◽  
Waluyo Jati ◽  
Nur Haidah
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
District Hospital ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Job Descriptions ◽  
Waste Products ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
A Value ◽  
Medical Waste Management ◽  
Initial Survey ◽  
Medical Wastes

Medical waste denoted solid waste products that proved to be hazardous to hospitals and maycause health problems if not managed properly. An initial survey has been conducted in Bangil districthospital in Pasuruan. Outside components. that proved to have met the requirements, several problemswere discovered such as a practice of mixing medical waste and non - medical solid wastes, wastemedical bins were found to have different shape, size and color and there were no labels, the temperaturereached by incenerator combustion chamber was only :t: 800°C and it was not equipped with gas cleaningmechanism, and no special handling of the resulted ashes. This study was aimed to evaluate themanagement of solid medical waste in Bangil Pasuruanhospital.With regard to the research method, this was .a descriptive research. This research wasconducted in March - May 2014, the collected data were subjected to descriptive type of analysis/ resultswere discussed in reference to Minister of Health decree No. 1204/Menkes/SK/X/2004 on EnvironmentalHealth Requirementsfor Hospital.Solid medical waste generated in Bangil Pasuruan hospital were derived from health careactivities, ERand other facilities that included infectious materials and sharps. The largest generation ofsolid medical wastes was on Saturdays at 214.7 kg, while the smallest production was Wednesdaysthatamounted to 118.8 kg. Evaluation of solid medical waste management resulted in a value of 64, 1 % andcategorized as poor. The smallest percentage was obtained. at the generation phase by 25 % and thehighest percentage related to storage 90 %.This study concluded that the management of solid medical waste in Bangil Pasuruan hospital didnot meet the designated requirements. As a suggestion, Bangil Pasuruan hospital needs to reform themanagement of solid medical wastes, to complete insfrastructures and job descriptions should be madeavailable in writing, all requirements should be tailored to Minister of Health Decree No.1204/Menkes/SK/X/2004 on Environmental Health Requirementsfor Hospital.

scholarly journals Study of knowledge, behaviour and practice of biomedical waste among health personnel

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 3330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjuman Chowdhary
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
World Health ◽  
Healthcare Personnel ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Biomedical Waste ◽  
Health Organization

Background: Healthcare wastes are of great importance due to its hazardous nature. As World Health Organization (WHO) indicated, some of healthcare wastes are considered the most hazardous and potentially dangerous to human health and pollute the environment. With this background this study was undertaken to assess awareness, behavior and practices healthcare personnel about biomedical waste, its hazards and management.Methods: This one cross-sectional study was conducted at S.V.B.P. hospital associated with L.L.R.M. medical college, Meerut. A total of 291 healthcare personnel who consented for interview were interviewed biomedical waste management rules and observed for biomedical waste management practices by using redesigned and a pretested questionnaire. The data was analysed by using SPSS software.Results: Awareness regarding bio-medical waste management rules was 67% in doctors, 60% in nurses, 57% among lab technicians, but the sanitary staff was not aware about this. Awareness about category of BMW, number, colour coding, disposed content, labelling and cover of waste containers and segregation of waste were more among nurses and lab technicians in comparison to doctors but minimum among sanitary staff. All the respondents (100%) doctors, nurses and lab technicians knew that HIV and Hepatitis B transmitted through Bio medical waste but their awareness regarding Hepatitis C and other diseases was very low. 74% of sanitary Staff did not know that these diseases could be transmitted through bio medical waste.Conclusions: Healthcare facilities should get their healthcare personnel trained from accredited training centers.

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