Bio-medical waste management practices of personal protective equipments pre and post Covid -19: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

: Covid-19 pandemic and the influx of polypropylene Personal Protective Equipments have created a new challenge in segregation and disposal of plastics. The general guidelines for disposal and segregation during the pre-covid period has emphasised recycling.Objective Our aim was to find out whether the PPE kits were adequately recycled during the pandemic and whether any toxic fumes were produced while incinerating them, resulting in any environmental hazard.: We collected the data on Bio-medical waste disposed in the entire Kerala state from 2017 to 2022. It was divided into pre-covid and covid-relaxation period. The amount of biomedical waste recycled and incinerated were measured and compared. The amount of new cases and its correlation to recycling and incineration was done. The stack emission data during pre-covid and covid-relaxation period was collected and compared.Our results showed that during the covid-relaxation years there was a significant increase in incineration as compared to the pre-covid years. The incineration was much more when compared to recycling. Fortunately the stack emission didn’t show any toxic fumes and environmental hazards.: We concluded that recycling of PPE was not adequate during covid-19 pandemic. Health care system should take more steps to be compliant with national guidelines. Awareness has to be made to decrease in the use of these disposable materials and shift to more eco-friendly materials or reusable materials.