Tuesday, February 01, 2022

WHO: Hundreds of thousands of Tonnes of COVID-19 health care waste expose urgent need to improve waste management systems

A return to fairly normal times like before the Covid-19 pandemic is long overdue like at least since Spring 2021! This is another good reason!

Why SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 is a relatively harmless disease and why the cure was worse than the disease.


"Masks. Gloves. Swabs. Syringes. Needles. Multiply them by the millions. 
COVID-19 has generated tens of thousands of tons of extra medical waste globally, adding “tremendous strain” to hospitals’ waste management systems, a new WHO report finds. The WHO says pandemic waste from health facilities alone includes:
144,000 tons of syringes, needles, and safety boxes from 8 billion doses of vaccine
2,600 tons of mostly plastic waste and 731,000 liters of chemical waste from +140 million test kits
Not to mention 87,000 tons of PPE shipped via a UN emergency initiative alone. ..."

"Tens of thousands of tonnes of extra medical waste from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has put tremendous strain on health care waste management systems around the world, threatening human and environmental health and exposing a dire need to improve waste management practices ...
The authors note that this just provides an initial indication of the scale of the COVID-19 waste problem. It does not take into account any of the COVID-19 commodities procured outside of the initiative, nor waste generated by the public like disposable medical masks.

They point out that over 140 million test kits, with a potential to generate 2,600 tonnes of non-infectious waste (mainly plastic) and 731,000 litres of chemical waste (equivalent to one-third of an Olympic-size swimming pool) have been shipped, while over 8 billion doses of vaccine have been administered globally producing 144,000 tonnes of additional waste in the form of syringes, needles, and safety boxes. ..."


Tonnes of COVID-19 health care waste expose urgent need to improve waste management systems


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