COVID garbage, the other virus that makes the planet sick: two years of pandemic and no protocol against tons of waste

Masks, gloves, protective suits, more containers, tests, vials and needles… are the new protagonists of waste management after two years of the pandemic. Some very real tools that in practice represent thousands of tons of medical waste that can have a terrible impact on health and the environment.

The World Health Organization warns of this. We must insist on the correct management of this pandemic waste because it is a potential danger for health workers, for cities and ultimately for the health of the entire planet. To get an idea of ​​the dimensions that are handled, one fact: only the shipments that left the United Nations for the most needy countries in these two years represent some 87,000 tons of humanitarian protection equipment. Almost all of it has been turned into waste.

With the first bars of the pandemic, the first priority measure was the incineration of waste related to COVID and the spill. Neither sterilization nor subsequent reuse. Something that the experts pointed out from the beginning as a mistake. Little by little the measure has been complemented with the formula known as autoclave. But what does this system consist of? Can it be the solution?

From the company Stericycle, one of the largest in our country in waste management, they explain that with the autoclave hospital waste is sterilized using moist heat under pressure. Thus, they expose the contaminated material to a high temperature, in contact with water vapor, with successive cycles of compression and decompression to facilitate contact between the vapor and the waste. And after a time (which they do not specify), “possible pathogens are destroyed or reduced to a level where they do not represent a risk, since the probability of survival of microorganisms is almost nil.” Once sterilized, they are subjected to the traditional crushing and pouring.

However, this does not seem enough to end the problem. Should the management model be changed to another in which reuse prevails? The case of antigen tests could be an example. In the last week alone, seven million of these tests were sold in Spain. Everything in them is plastic, only the strip of paper and the cotton of the swab are saved. However, its destination is the organic garbage bag. From Ecologists in Action they have it clear. This is not sustainable. And they argue that, as is the case with the SIGRE system, Test containers can be deposited in pharmacies. Something that from the College of Pharmacists see difficult since it is not a medicine. Other options that they propose to protect the environment is to opt for the reuse of those plastic containers of the tests, having to change only the paper strips. Or even go further and bet that the antigen tests have a cardboard support. However, for the WHO, beyond the tests, the central problem that must be tackled is in the health protection systems. Their PPE, masks and gloves generate an amount of waste globally that is unaffordable in the medium-long term.

The body’s report offers several recommendations to deal with the management of medical waste in a global and coordinated manner, ranging from a reduction of packaging to greater use of reusable, recyclable or biodegradable material.

also recommend increased investment in waste treatment systems that do not use the simple burning of this waste, such as the aforementioned autoclaves, or in logistics networks that favor centralized management and, as far as possible, the circulation of waste.

“The coronavirus forces the world to reflect on the shortcomings and the most forgotten aspects of the waste management system,” says the director of the Environment, Climate Change and Health of the WHO, Maria Neira.

The expert Mandeep Dhaliwal goes a little further, focusing on those responsible: “waste management is an integral part of the supply chain, as a consequence of the use and expiration of medical devices”. That is, the responsibility must fall on the producers themselves and those who choose the type of supply that is purchased.

“We cannot protect human health without a healthy environment. The hundreds of billions of disposable plastic masks and gloves that we are using have an enormous cost,” according to Julius Barea, responsible for the waste campaign greenpeace.

But, Are we willing to change our production and management systems? The costs? The truth is that with the facts in hand, it does not seem so. A few months ago several operations of the Civil Guard and Seprona They highlighted the bad actions with the covid waste management.

They highlight the operation called ‘Retrovirus’ (in coordination with Europol) with 53 detainees and more than 500 inspections in 300 centers linked to the management of medical waste. Despite the fact that most waste managers complied with the regulations, serious irregularities were detected, Interior said at the time. Also the operation ‘hartie’, in which the Civil Guard and the Madrid Municipal Police dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to irregular waste management in the capital. 42 people were arrested and investigated for the assumptions crimes against the environment, criminal organization, robbery and theft of waste, money laundering and illicit shipments of waste to Southeast Asia, China and India mainly. In total, they accredited 278 illegal shipments, weighing 67,300 tons and with a value of 10 million euros.

From the Government and after two years of pandemic without protocols to manage or minimize plastic waste from non-infectious COVID garbage, they focus their efforts on the Waste Law, one of its main bets for 2022. The bill has already been approved in Congress and among its novelties with respect to the 2011 law, it plans to apply new rates and methods for waste collection management. In addition, he aspires to reduce by 2030 the production of waste by 15% compared to 2010. Something that is still far from coming and that for many experts is insufficient and is late.