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Comparative life cycle assessment of emergency disposal scenarios for medical waste during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic attracts concerns globally and leads to an exponential increase in medical waste generation, and disposal of medical waste is an urgent need for preventing the epidemic spread. Emergency disposal scenarios of medical waste generated during the COVID-19 pandemic require a systematic assessment to quantify their potential environmental impacts. The environmental impacts and key factors of three movable disposal scenarios (i.e. incineration disposal vehicle, movable steam and microwave sterilization equipment both followed by co-incineration with municipal solid waste) were quantified via life cycle assessment approach. Furthermore, the environmental impacts of three movable disposal and two co-incineration scenarios were compared via life cycle assessment by expanding system boundaries. The results show that co-incineration with municipal solid waste has the lowest environmental impacts due to environmental benefits produced by power generation, while co-incineration with hazardous waste is the highest due to the high energy consumption. Energy consumption (i.e. kerosene, electricity and diesel) are the key factors for three movable disposal scenarios. For movable steam and microwave sterilization equipment followed by co-incineration with municipal solid waste, power generation from incinerating disinfected medical waste has significant beneficial environmental impacts due to avoided impacts of electricity consumption. The recommendations for improvement of the emergency disposal and management of medical waste during the COVID-19 pandemic globally and other serious epidemic in the future are provided.

SUBMITTER: Zhao H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7997725 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The surge of medical waste (MW) generated during the COVID-19 pandemic has exceeded the disposal capacity of existing facilities. The timely, safe, and efficient emergency disposal of MW is critical to prevent the epidemic spread. Therefore, this review presents the current status of MW generation and disposal in China and analyzes the characteristics and applicability of emergency disposal technologies. The results show that movable disposal facilities can dispose of infectious MW on site, even though most of their disposal capacity is at a low level (<5 t/day). Co-disposal facilities need to be reformed completely for emergency MW disposal, in which separate feeding systems should be taken seriously. Specifically, municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration facilities have great potential to improve emergency MW disposal capacities. For hazardous waste incineration facilities, compatibility of the wastes must be matched to the composition and calorific value of the waste. As for cement kiln, MW can only be used as an alternative fuel instead of a raw material for cement. Based on the environmental risk and technical adaptability, the six emergency MW disposal technologies are recommended to be prioritized as follows: movable microwave sterilization, movable steam sterilization, movable incineration, co-incineration with hazardous waste, co-incineration with MSW and co-disposal in cement kilns. Infectious MW, especially COVID-19 MW, should be prioritized for disposal by centralized and movable disposal facilities, while non-infectious MW can be disposed of using co-disposal facilities. All stakeholders should strengthen the delicacy management of the end-of-life stage of MW, including collection, classification, packaging identification, transportation, and disposal. Currently, it is necessary for centralized disposal enterprises to follow the emergency disposal operation flowchart. From a long-term strategic perspective, making full use of regional movable and co-disposal facilities in the megacities can effectively enhance the emergency MW disposal capacity.

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Comparative life cycle assessment of emergency disposal scenarios for medical waste during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

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