Covid: 19 vaccine rollout keeps waste workers busy, environmentalists worried

Stericycle

28/04/2021 10:00

* COVID-19 vaccine rollout producing clinical waste
    * Syringes, needles end up in incinerators, landfills or
dumps
    * Experts say new solutions needed to get rid of waste 

    By Catarina Demony
    CHAMUSCA, Portugal, April 28 (Reuters) - Every day, as more
people get their COVID-19 shots, millions of syringes, needles
and tiny vials are thrown away globally.
    Vaccinating the entire population of the United States for
example, would require so many needles they would stretch around
the earth 1.8 times, according to California-based OnSite Waste
Technologies.
    Experts warn medical waste firms risk becoming overwhelmed
by the sheer volume of debris and many environmentalists are
demanding more sustainable solutions as the vaccine rollout
accelerates.  
    In central Portugal, in a large warehouse with a burning hot
incinerator, workers sort through bins marked 'hazardous waste'
arriving by the truckload from vaccination centres.
    "The number of people getting shots will increase
substantially... This means we have to step up our response,"
said Adelino Mendes, manager of Ambimpombal waste firm.
    The facility houses one of only two medical waste
incinerators in Portugal.    
    So far, Portugal has managed to handle the trash from its
vaccine programme but capacity constraints are a structural
problem everywhere, according to Carlos Filho, head of the
Rotterdam-based International Solid Waste Association (ISWA).
    "An unexpected pandemic showed that the world did not have
the necessary infrastructure to cope with an increase in waste,"
he said.
    Over the last year, refuse firms have had to handle soaring
amounts of trash - from medical masks to food delivery boxes.   
  
    France's Suez, one of the world's largest waste management
firms, said the volume of medical trash it processed at its
plant in the Netherlands tripled last year from 2019. 
    Stericycle, which operates in countries like the United
States and Britain, said it saw an "unprecedented" increase. 
          
    'A TICKING TIME BOMB'
    Clinical waste is also being generated in non-medical
settings where vaccination centres have been set up: sports
stadiums, parking lots and concert halls.   
    The way that waste is disposed of varies from country to
country. In some, it is collected, disinfected and sent to
sanitary landfills. Portugal opts for incineration.
    There is also much room for innovation. U.S. firm OnSite
Waste Technologies has created a desktop-size device that can
melt syringes and needles and turn them into a small brick of
non-infectious trash. 
    In low-income countries however, where refuse collection is
less regulated, medical waste often ends up in open-air dumps or
unregulated burn pits, posing a risk to public health and the
environment.          
    "It is a ticking time bomb that will have a terrible impact
on people's health," Filho said, adding there were around 11,500
dumps in Latin America and the Caribbean alone. "We cannot
accept that waste from vaccination is sent to unsuitable
places." 
    Trash pickers in countries such as India often look for
syringes and needles in open-air dumps and resell them on the
black market, studies have shown.
    Concerns about the end destination of vaccine waste have
also emerged in Europe, where Europol said last November it
investigated some companies for poor handling of COVID-19 waste.
    Spain's Guardia Civil police said a firm operating in Spain
and Portugal kept infectious waste in cardboard boxes, leaving
trash to deteriorate and become scattered on public roads. 
    Some see the pandemic as an opportunity to make waste
management better and greener, which would also require vaccine
waste to be more easily disposed off.
    A study published last month in The Journal of Climate
Change and Health said vaccination could be made more
"eco-friendly" by using materials for vials and syringes which
are easier to recycle. 
    "There is a need to develop sustainable and recyclable
products for a better tomorrow," it said.

 (Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrei Khalip and
Alexandra Hudson)
 ((catarina.demony@thomsonreuters.com; +351 915 616 444
(Twitter: @CatarinaDemony);))