What makes residents more willing to participate in source separation of waste masks under the COVID-19 pandemic?

With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the generation of a large amount of medical waste brought a rude shock to the existing solid waste management system. Since masks constitute the most common household medical waste under the COVID-19 pandemic, their effective collection and treatment can significantly reduce the potential risks for secondary transmission, and this concern has attracted worldwide attention. Taking Macau City as a case study, this research tried to identify factors that can influence residents' behavioral intentions toward the source separation of COVID-19 waste masks. The extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model is used to examine the influence factors of the source separation behaviors of 510 respondents. The results show that the main factors that positively affected respondents' behavioral intentions toward waste-mask source separation are: cognitive attitude, convenience, and perceived behavioral control, and among these, cognitive attitude has the highest influence. Subjective norm is also proved to be the weak factor to improving behavioral intention. Policy advocacy, and demographic variables have no significant effect on behavioral intention. The results of this study can help decision makers and managers formulate effective strategies to increase residents' participation in the source separation of waste masks. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10163-022-01513-7.

Repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic on solid waste generation and management strategies.

It has been over ten months since the beginning of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-2019), and its impact on solid waste management, especially medical waste, is becoming clearer. This study systematically reviews the potential influences of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical waste, personal protection equipment waste and municipal solid waste (MSW), and discusses the corresponding measures and policies of solid waste management in typical countries. The results show that the generation of medical waste from the pandemic increased significantly, with 18%-425% growth. It is estimated that the daily output of COVID-19 medical waste increased from 200 t/d on Feb. 22 to over 29000 t/d at the end of September 2020 throughout the world. The use of personal protective equipment will continue to grow in the long-term, while the blockade and isolation measures greatly reduced the volume of commercial waste, especially for tourist cities, and part of this waste was transferred to household waste. Residents' attitudes and behavior toward food waste have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, international organizations and several countries have issued new policies and guidelines and adjusted their management strategies for medical waste and MSW treatment. The pandemic has brought specific challenges to the disposal capacity of medical waste worldwide. It has also brought about the stagnation of policies related to the reduction of plastic products and waste recycling. This study will provide some useful information for managers and governmental officials on effective solid waste management during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.