- Tens of thousands of tons of waste are piling up.
- Waste incineration, poor management of landfills are a concern.
- WHO calls for the use of reusable, recyclable equipment.
GENVA: Discarded syringes, used test kits and old vaccine bottles from the COVID-19 pandemic have piled up to create tens of thousands of tons of medical waste, threatening human health and the environment, a World Health Organization report said Tuesday.
The material, some of which may be contagious because the coronavirus can survive on surfaces, may expose healthcare workers to burns, needlestick injuries and germs, the report said.
Communities near poorly managed landfills can also be affected by contaminated air from burning waste, poor water quality or disease-carrying pests, it added.
The report calls for reforms and investment, including by reducing the use of packaging that has caused a rush on plastic and the use of protective clothing made from reusable and recyclable materials.
It estimates that up to November 2021, some 87,000 tons of personal protective equipment (PPE), or the equivalent of the weight of several hundred blue whales, has been ordered through a UN portal — most of it believed to have ended up as waste.
The report also lists some 140 million test kits with the potential to generate 2,600 tons of mostly plastic waste and enough chemical waste to fill a third of an Olympic swimming pool.
In addition, it estimates that approximately 8 billion doses of vaccine administered worldwide have produced an additional 144,000 tons of waste in the form of glass vials, syringes, needles and lockers.
The WHO report did not name specific examples of where the most egregious accumulations occurred, but pointed to challenges such as limited official waste treatment and disposal in rural India and large amounts of fecal sludge from quarantine facilities in Madagascar.
Even before the pandemic, about a third of healthcare facilities were not equipped to handle existing waste loads, the WHO said. That was a whopping 60% in poor countries, it said.
