The Use of University Biosystem Environmental Protection Platform to Prevent a New Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the possibility of practical use of the Hackathon Platform for ecological protection of the university biosystem to prevent a new outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affects companies and population’s behaviour. The most significant change occurred in the attitude of companies to the environment from technical and technological points of view. To increase their production sustainability, these companies are looking at the possibilities of waste recovery through sustainable recycling, or recovery of waste as a source of secondary raw material. One of the simplest ways is to use agricultural waste for energy purposes, bringing bioenergy to the forefront as a new area of Industry 4.0. The ALARA model was used to assess the quality of six biosystem components (atmospheric air, water resources, soil layer, the level of land pollution with chemicals and littering by the unauthorized dumps; sufficient volume of green planting on the territory). This allowed the development of management decisions and environmental protection measures based on the system of calculated indicators of potential environmental damage for each of six biosystem components. The forecast of plan implementation: the quality of four from among six biosystem components (atmospheric air, water resources, soil layer, sufficient volume of green planting on the territory) will increase on average by 30–40%. A minor improvement in the quality of the other biosystem components (approx. by 10%) raises concerns about the high probability of a new outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.