Table 1.
Management of SW (healthcare waste (HCW), plastic waste (PW) and MSW) during pandemic in Different Countries.
| Country | City Name | Waste Amount Generated Pre-COVID | Estimated daily Waste Generated during COVID | Technique/s Followed for Management of Waste | Some Other Findings | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Japan |
– | – | 876 tonnes/day (HCW) | • Autoclave (sterilization by steam), melting, incineration, dry sterilization, shredding, disinfection, disposal in sanitary landfill. • Mixed recyclable items with combustible waste and incinerate. • Discharge incombustible waste after 7-day storage at the source. |
• Bags are clearly labelled for infectious waste at the storage room. • Infectious wastes are separated stored in the storage room. • Short storage periods. • To avoid spilling and scattering of wastes within amenities, a designated cart is used for transportation • Container is sealed that is hard to break and easy to use. • Using designated container, sharps are separated from other infectious wastes. • General, infectious and non-infectious waste are separated |
ISWA , 2020 |
 India |
– | 550 tonnes/day (HCW) | 608 tonnes/day (HCW) | • CBWTF are available • Deep burial is allowed for disposal only in remote or rural areas where CBTWF facilities are not available. • HW is incinerated at captive industrial incinerators or existing treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) if any available in state/union territory when yellow color coded (incinerable) COVID-19 waste is generated beyond the capacity of the existing captive BMW incinerators and CBWTFs. • For biomedical waste's disposal, urban local body (ULB) engages CBWTF operator, where waste collected from doorsteps or from waste deposition centres or quarantine home center or temporary medical facilities. |
• In COVID-19 temporary quarantine centres, collection bins and dedicated trolleys are used. • Yellow bags are used to collect waste infected with body fluid or blood of COVID-19 patients for quarantined homes. • Bins are designated by labelling “COVID-19 Waste”. • Surfaces of trolleys/bins/containers are disinfected on daily basis using 1% solution of sodium hypochlorite. • For handling general and biomedical solid waste, separate dedicated sanitation workers are deputed. • The barcoding and GPS systems is used in vehicle for tracking waste containing HCW Also, ‘Cytotoxic’ and ‘Biohazard’ is labelled on the vehicle. |
UNEP, 2020; Singh et al. (2021) |
 Indonesia |
– | – | 290 tonnes/day (HCW) | • Disinfection is done at source • Mostly incineration is done. • If no incinerator is present then waste is dumped. • Wastes are burnt on daily basis at home • Official staff collected waste and transported to the incinerator of cement factory |
• COVID-19 infectious bins were designated by labelling. • Internal disinfection/sterilization was conducted before knotting the bags. • Before collection, bags were disinfected. • Bags were labelled as “Danger”. • Waste transportation was scheduled daily on weekdays by the cleaning service. |
UNEP (2020) |
 Thailand |
– | – | 152 tonnes/day (HCW) | • Incinerate, autoclave, sanitary landfill | • Waste was separated into non sharp items (COVID-19 waste) and sharp items. • Waste was disinfected and sealed in double layer bags. • A specific area was designated for storage. • Waste was sent to district healthcare facilities from community healthcare facility once a week. • Storage facility with controlled-temperature was available at district level • Licensed WMSPs carried out the transportation process. • After transportation, waste was treated within 48 h. • Using sodium hypochlorite, bins and vehicles were disinfected. |
Marome and Shaw (2021) |
 South Africa |
– | – | 133 tonnes/day (HCW) | • Microwave, autoclaves, Incineration. • Generation of COVID-19 waste in a household is andled as MSW. • Quarantine facility generated waste is managed as HCW and mostly treated by non-burn treatment facility or incinerator. |
• The HCW volume was minimized at source. • Box sets were filled with ¾ part afterward sealed and stored at designated storage area prior to collection for further process. • “Suspected COVID-19” waste was labelled at secure space. • On-site storage was taken place in the following order: adequate capacity was protected, disallow unauthorized persons to access these areas; warning signs were marked on gates, doors or lids, • Plastic bags were used with at least 80 μm and 60 L of thickness and capacity, respectively. • If pathological waste is unrefrigerated, a transporter had ensured collection between consignments and time for HCW treatment did not exceed 72 h. |
UNEP (2020) |
 Malaysia |
– | – | 50 tonnes/day (HCW) | • Mainly treated by incinerator. • All ash was transported to the hazardous waste treatment plant from incinerator unit for solidifying with cement and then disposed off. |
• COVID-19 waste was not separated with other infectious waste. • In some healthcare facilities, the cold room was equipped. • Depending on the quantity, waste was collected 3 times a week or daily. • Special and licensed lorry was brought into use for transporting hazardous waste. |
Agamuthu and Barasarathi (2020) |
 Mexico |
– | – | 32 tonnes/day (HCW) | • Incinerator, autoclave, radio wave, etc. were used for treatment of hazardous HCW. • For the disposal of waste, secured landfill was used and covered on daily basis. |
• Same protocol as that specified by Mexican Standard #087 for HCW was followed for other infectious waste. • As per the type of HCW 1, polyethylene bag and a container hermetic were used. • Translucent yellow color and red color polyethylene waterproof bag were used with free of chlorine and content of heavy metal not more than 1 PPM. • Bags were marked with risk symbol for recognition. • Biological-infectious hazardous waste was stored and separated from the medicine ware house, patient areas, etc., and it was reachable for transport and collection as well as only designated personnel was allowed to access. • During collection and transportation, hazardous biological-infectious waste was not compacted. • Hermetic vehicle and closed box were used for collection and temperature of maximum 4 °C was maintained. • During transportation of hazardous and infectious waste, these wastes must not be mixed with any other type of industrial and municipal waste. |
ISWA , 2020 |
 Afghanistan |
– | – | 27 tonnes/day (HCW) | • Mostly incineration of waste was done | • At the point of generation, HCW such as anatomical waste, general waste and other infectious waste were separated. • Used sharps such as syringes were collected and separated in yellow bags. • At healthcare facilities, a storage area was designated where; waste separated from each ward was transported using trolleys. • With labeling, waste was transported safely for treatment and disposal. |
UNEP (2020) |
 Bangladesh |
– | 87,000 t/year (PW) | 483 tonnes/day (PW) | • On-site system of waste treatment such as autoclave, burial and burning had been taken place and then, these wastes were stored at the transfer station after dumping off in landfill. | • Separate color-coded bins were used (Red: Sharp waste, Yellow: pathological/infectious waste, Black: Non-hazardous waste). • Bins were stored in storage sites which were collected by separated covered vehicles mostly every day and sent to treatment site on regular basis. • For storage, collection, treatment and disposal of HCW, agriculture, Rural Industry, Science and Medicine (PRISM) has been made responsible in some urban areas. |
Haque et al. (2020); (Haque et al., 2021); UNEP, 2020 |
| – | – | 206 tonnes/day (HCW) | ||||
 Nepal |
Kathmandu Valley | 1300 tonnes/day (MSW) | 880 tonnes/day (MSW) | The methods for the management in selected cities of Nepal: • stored with proper management – 52.4%, • thrown in streets – 1.2%, • incineration – 18.9%, • Land composting – 25.7%, • reuse or recycle – 1%, • community collection centre – 1% |
• Some health facilities met the standard of designate waste storage but some did not. • Within the hospitals, specific trollies were used for transportation. • Special vehicles were used for HCW transportation to treatment WMS. |
Adhikari and Koirala (2020); UNEP, 2020 |
| Pokhara | 168 tonnes/day (MSW) | 102 tonnes/day (MSW) | ||||
| Bharatpur | 75 tonnes/day (MSW) | 36 tonnes/day (MSW) | ||||
| Itahari | 33 tonnes/day (MSW) | 9.42 tonnes/day (MSW) | ||||
| Nepalgunj | 26 tonnes/day (MSW) | 15 tonnes/day (MSW) | ||||
| Butwal | 58 tonnes/day (MSW) | 52 tonnes/day (MSW) | ||||
| Hetauda | 20 tonnes/day (MSW) | 15 tonnes/day (MSW) | ||||
| – | – | 37 tonnes/day (HCW) | Mostly waste was burnt using small-scale incinerator or dumped in landfill, backyard or other areas. |