Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. Symptoms often include cough, shortness of breath, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, or loss of new taste or smell. Our understanding of the spread of the virus as we learn more about it can be found on the CDC website. This virus is supposed to spread from person to person:
Garbage contaminated with bodily fluids or another infectious material is becoming increasingly important to hospitals as they prepare for an increase in COVID-19 patients in the United Kingdom. Patients and health care professionals are swift to examine disposable medical stuff and personal protective equipment such as masks. After all, all used equipment is medical waste which must be disposed of safely.
In Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus first emerged, staff, didn’t just have to build a new hospital to accommodate an influx of patients. They have to build new medical waste facilities and deploy 46 mobile waste treatment facilities. Hospitals there produced six times more medical waste at the peak of the outbreak than they did before the crisis. The daily production of medical waste is 240 tonnes, about the weight of an adult blue whale.
As A Waste Collector or Recycler, How Can You Protect Yourself and Slow the Spread?
Potential sources of exposure for collectors and recyclable waste include close contact with colleagues or community leaders with COVID-19 or contact with surfaces that someone with COVID-19 has touched or treated.
Recommendations for Prioritizing Waste Collection Services
A guide to help local authorities and other waste removal prioritize their garbage collection services during the corona virus pandemic. It was developed with comments from local authorities and waste management.
These are legal guidelines to help local authorities maintain their services during the period affected by the corona virus pandemic. Situation varies by local authority and some recommendations may not be suitable for some local authorities. Many municipalities already have contingency plans and are now taken into account when planning services. The first obligation of local governments is to protect the health of employees and residents.
These guidelines are provisional in nature and the government monitors developments in waste management and skip hire with local authorities and the solid waste sector. Local authorities are urged to maintain these services as much as possible. The contents of the guide can be modified to reflect the government’s latest recommendations on the corona virus pandemic.
The Key to Prioritizing
High Priority – This service is of the utmost importance and should be continued as usual. These services are required by law and / or may have serious effects on the environment and human health if discontinued altogether. Local authorities most often rely on these high priority services.
Medium Priority – The suspension of this service will cause disruption, but the impact will not be as severe as the outage of high priority services. The risks to human health are lower than if high priority services were stopped. These services are important, although local authorities rely less on them than high priority services.
Low Priority – When this service is discontinued, there will be little or no impact or disruption. There is little or no risk to human health when these services are stopped.
Time Collection (“Black Bag”) For Garbage Collection
The risk if services are reduced or stopped the build-up of decomposing waste can pose a risk to human health. If the collection is not packed in containers, routine collections should be maintained to avoid environmental and community health impacts.
Mitigation: If possible, redistribute employees from other services. Provide clear communication to hosts on how their garbage collection service will change. In the case of separate food waste collection, the collection frequency can be changed to ensure adequate service. Make sure the host has clear communication about the frequency of service and when to export trash bags or bins.
Food Waste
If food waste is collected weekly, this service should be kept to the maximum extent possible so that rotting waste is disposed of frequently. For mixed food and garden waste collection, while for food scraps should be continued to prevent the accumulation of food and garden waste. As a last resort, food waste collection may need to stop temporarily and encourage residents to put food waste into the same container as their leftovers and not collect garden waste. You can always hire a professional skip Hire Company like Clearabee to collect and dispose of all the wastes in this challenging time of COVID-19.
