ABSTRACT
The studies conducted on the effects of the health emergency due to COVID-19 have shown heavy consequences on human activities (industrial production, economic activities, tourism), but also interesting improvements for the quality of different environmental matrices (water, air, soil). The waste management sector, which represents an essential public utility service, has suffered very negative consequences. In fact, the global change in the behavior and habits of citizens and the variations in industrial, production and economic processes in general have altered the consolidated dynamics that governed the production and treatment of waste, putting them in crisis. This review intends to provide a structured and critical evaluation of the recent scientific literature about the study of the effect of health emergency on the waste management sector. The results reported showed a general common trend towards a significant increase in the production of hazardous medical waste and packaging plastics, while the increasing or decreasing trend in household waste does not appear uniform. Industrial waste and those associated with public areas and events are decreasing. The recovery and recycling sector suffered a sharp slowdown. In the face of various gaps and criticalities highlighted by the analyzed authors, various possible solutions to improve waste management during emergency situations such as that of COVID-19 have been identified and reported in this review work. © 2021 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 health emergency has imposed the need to limit and/or stop non-essential economic and commercial activities and movement of people. The objective of this work is to report an assessment of the change in vehicle flows and in air quality of a specific study area in the north of Italy, comparing the periods February–May 2020 and February–May 2019. Circulating vehicles have been measured at nine characteristic points of the local road network of the city of Reggio Emilia (Italy), while atmospheric pollutant concentrations have been analysed using data extracted from the regional air quality monitoring network. The results highlight a rapid decline in the number of vehicles circulating in 2020 (with values of up to −82%). This has contributed to a reduction in air concentrations of pollutants, in particular for NO2 and CO (over 30% and over 22%, respectively). On the other hand, O3 has increased (by about +13%), but this is expected. Finally, the particulate matter grew (about 30%), with a behaviour similar to the whole regional territory. The empirical findings of this study provide some indications and useful information to assist in understanding the effects of traffic blocking in urban areas on air quality. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.