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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Good health and a safe environment are essential for sustainable development, including the appropriate management of healthcare wastes. The study intends to assess the generation rate and management methods of healthcare waste in the regional hospital center and a private clinic in Tangier, Morocco, with a focus on potential risks to health workers from infectious diseases. METHODS: The study collected data on healthcare waste generation over a period of two months by measuring and analyzing general and hazardous waste using an electronic scale. The data was presented as averages in kilograms per bed per day and as percentages. A questionnaire was provided to 100 healthcare workers. It included questions on their sociodemographic characteristics and their knowledge and attitudes regarding healthcare waste management. FINDINGS: The case study revealed that the healthcare waste production in the two institutions varied, with the private clinic producing 0.76 kilograms per day per bed and the regional hospital center producing 1.84 kilograms per day per bed. The survey also discovered that the hazardous fraction of waste generated in the regional hospital center was 40 percent, which was much higher than the World Health Organization's estimation. The daily amount of hazardous waste generated increased from 260.49 kilograms to 436.81 kilograms postCOVID-19. The survey found gaps in knowledge, attitudes, and daily challenges in waste management practices among the health workers in both facilities. CONCLUSION: The survey findings suggest that the healthcare waste management methods in Tangier are unsafe and may endanger the health workers and patients. The study found that the lack of monitoring and control contributed significantly to noncompliance with good practices. These findings can be used by the regional divisions of the Ministry of Health to develop specific protocols for managing sanitary emergencies and perform routine observation and training at all levels in the two facilities studied © This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
ABSTRACT
Population growth and recent disruptions caused by COVID-19 and many other man-made or natural disasters all around the world have considerably increased the demand for medical services, which has led to a rise in medical waste generation. The improper management of these wastes can result in a serious threat to living organisms and the environment. Designing a reverse logistics network using mathematical programming tools is an efficient and effective way to manage healthcare waste. In this regard, this paper formulates a bi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model for designing a reverse logistics network to manage healthcare waste under uncertainty and epidemic disruptions. The concept of epidemic disruptions is employed to determine the amount of waste generated in network facilities; and a Monte Carlo-based simulation approach is used for this end. The proposed model minimizes total costs and population risk, simultaneously. A fuzzy goal programming method is developed to deal with the uncertainty of the model. A simulation algorithm is developed using probabilistic distribution functions for generating data with different sizes; and then used for the evaluation of the proposed model. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed model and solution approach is confirmed using the sensitivity analysis process on the objective functions' coefficients.
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The growth of healthcare waste (HCW) was driven by the spread of COVID-19. Effective HCW eradication has become a pressing global issue that requires immediate attention. Selecting an effective healthcare waste treatment technology (HCWTT) can aid in preventing waste buildup. HCWTT selection can be seen as a complex multi-criteria group evaluation problem as the process involves multiple types of criteria and decision-makers (DMs) facing uncertain and vague information. The key objective of this study is to create a useful tool for the evaluation of HCWTT that is appropriate for the organization's needs. A novel index system for assessing the HCWTT during the decision-making evaluation process is first presented. Then a new approach based on entropy measure, decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and game theory for the integrated weighting procedure (IWP) is presented under a Fermatean fuzzy environment. A multi-criteria group analysis based on IWP, a technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and grey relational analysis (GRA), named IWP-TOPSIS-GRA framework suited to Fermatean fuzzy evaluation information, is developed. In a real-world case of HCWTT selection, through comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis, it is verified that the presented method is feasible and robust. © 2023 by the authors.
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Environmental pollution has been a major concern for researchers and policymakers. A number of studies have been conducted to enquire the causes of environmental pollution which suggested numerous policies and techniques as remedial measures. One such major source of environmental pollution, as reported by previous studies, has been the garbage resulting from disposed hospital wastes. The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted into mass generation of medical waste which seems to have further deteriorated the issue of environmental pollution. This necessitates active attention from both the researchers and policymakers for effective management of medical waste to prevent the harm to environment and human health. The issue of medical waste management is more important for countries lacking sophisticated medical infrastructure. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to propose a novel application for identification and classification of 10 hospitals in Iraq which generated more medical waste during the COVID-19 pandemic than others in order to address the issue more effectively. We used the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method to this end. We integrated MCDM with other techniques including the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), linear Diophantine fuzzy set decision by opinion score method (LDFN-FDOSM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analysis to generate more robust results. We classified medical waste into five categories, i.e., general waste, sharp waste, pharmaceutical waste, infectious waste, and pathological waste. We consulted 313 experts to help in identifying the best and the worst medical waste management technique within the perspectives of circular economy using the neural network approach. The findings revealed that incineration technique, microwave technique, pyrolysis technique, autoclave chemical technique, vaporized hydrogen peroxide, dry heat, ozone, and ultraviolet light were the most effective methods to dispose of medical waste during the pandemic. Additionally, ozone was identified as the most suitable technique among all to serve the purpose of circular economy of medical waste. We conclude by discussing the practical implications to guide governments and policy makers to benefit from the circular economy of medical waste to turn pollutant hospitals into sustainable ones.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Medical Waste , Waste Management , Humans , Pandemics , IncinerationABSTRACT
Elevated medical waste has urged the improvement of sustainable medical waste treatments. A bibliometric analysis is initially conducted to investigate scientific development of medical waste management to pinpoint the publication trends, influential articles, journals and countries and study hotspots. Publications on medical waste and its management sharply increased since 2020. The most influential article was written by Klemeš et al., and "Waste Management and Research” is the most productive journal. India, China, the United Kingdom, Iran and Italy have published the most works. The research spotlights have switched from "human” and "sustainable development” in 2019 to "COVID-19” and "circular economy” in 2021. Since government acts essentially in handling medical waste and controlling disease transmission, rule implementations among the abovementioned countries are summarized to seek gaps between scientific advancement and regulatory frameworks. For accomplishing a circular economy, waste-to-energy technologies (incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, plasma-based treatments, carbonization, hydrogenation, liquefaction, biomethanation, fermentation and esterification) are comprehensively reviewed. Incineration, gasification, pyrolysis and carbonization are relatively feasible methods, their characteristics and limitations are further compared. By holistically reviewing current status of medical waste research, the focal points involved in management at the policy and technical level have been highlighted to find proper routes for medical waste valorization. © 2023 by the authors.
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In the last years, particularly after Covid-19, Health care waste (HCW) has increased significantly due to the increasing population and number of healthcare organizations. HCW produces a significant risk of infectious contamination and injury. Accordingly, healthcare waste management plays a vital role in creating waste management strategies, and policies and implementing waste management plans. To build robust healthcare management systems, the risk assessment process is a key step. This paper assesses the top hazards of healthcare waste at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) in Oman using the Exponential Weighted Geometric Mean-Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (EWGM-FMEA). Fifteen healthcare waste hazards were selected to apply the tool. These hazards are ranked to prioritize the top hazards wastes. This assessment helps in identifying the most crucial hazards,whiche the policymakers should pay attention thus, the main countermeasures could be conducted. These hazards were proposed based on the conducted survey questionnaire and interviews accordingly, and analyses of the data have been carried out. The applied tool examined the importance of quantifying healthcare waste to apply the appropriate corrective actions which can be applied to mitigate the harm and the negative effects of healthcare waste. The results of the assessment tool will help policymakers in developing clear plans for management, disposal of wastes, and segregation. Furthermore, prioritizing healthcare waste explored the importance of integrating tthe raining plans of workers with the healthcare waste management policy. Although the prospective managerial and policy implications of this research, some limitations could be studied by future researchers. Firstly, the sample covered one hospital that may be representative of only one hospital in Oman which constrains the generalization of results. Secondly, the number of identified waste hazards is fifteen so, increased the number of hazards may help policymakers in building a more effective healthcare waste management plan which will reflect in improving the healthcare management system in the organization, mitigating the harmful effects on human health and the negative effects on the environment. © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
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The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in healthcare waste (HCW). HCW management treatment needs to be re-taken into focus to deal with this challenge. In practice, there are several treatments of HCW with their advantages and disadvantages. This study is conducted to select the appropriate treatment for HCW in the Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Six HCW management treatments are analyzed and observed through twelve criteria. Ten-level linguistic values were used to bring this evaluation closer to human thinking. A fuzzy rough approach is used to solve the problem of inaccuracy in determining these values. The OPA method from the Bonferroni operator is used to determine the weights of the criteria. The results of the application of this method showed that the criterion Environmental Impact ( C 4 ) received the highest weight, while the criterion Automation Level ( C 8 ) received the lowest value. The ranking of HCW management treatments was performed using MARCOS methods based on the Aczel-Alsina function. The results of this analysis showed that the best-ranked HCW management treatment is microwave (A6) while landfill treatment (A5) is ranked worst. This study has provided a new approach based on fuzzy rough numbers where the Bonferroni function is used to determine the lower and upper limits, while the application of the Aczel-Alsina function reduced the influence of decision-makers on the final decision because this function stabilizes the decision-making process.
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Health care waste adversely affects society in ways that have been overlooked for decades, an issue that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated significantly. This policy statement addresses the human impacts that occur as health care waste is processed, transported, landfilled, or incinerated. With limited federal tracking and lack of regulation, patterns of environmental racism persist. Communities of color and low-income communities most often experience the greatest environmental health burdens through the disposal of waste in their communities. Many communities have called for action for decades, as our massive health care industry contributes greatly to these harms. Centering these communities, public health professionals must advocate for (1) evidence-based federal policies with transparent, accessible data about health care waste generation, type, and fate; (2) leadership within the health care industry (e.g., from hospitals, accrediting bodies, and professional organizations) to address environmental health and justice issues related to waste; (3) health impact assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and circular economy research with health care systems and communities to identify cost-effective, feasible, and just solutions; and (4) federal initiatives to prioritize funding toward mitigation of cumulative exposures and impacts, reparation for harms, and investment in well-being for communities exposed to waste, health care or otherwise. Some public health experts anticipate that we may be entering a "pandemic age," which suggests that, without intervention, intersecting issues of infectious disease, climate change, waste, and environmental health and justice will remain and reoccur.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Environmental Health , Public Health , Social Justice , PolicyABSTRACT
The resilience of a new national healthcare waste management protocol was compared in hospital and community settings in Ethiopia during the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. The aim was also to evaluate the flexibility and implementation status of the guidelines for healthcare waste management in the context of a pandemic. The study was performed in a cross-sectional design by using a structured questionnaire and checklists and through a systematic review. Primary and secondary data were collected, including those from municipal sites, Yekatit 12 Hospital and other relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, the data were analysed and compared to the global practices and standards. The study revealed there was a comparable difference in the level of care taken in healthcare waste management between healthcare institutions and in the community in Addis Ababa city. The provision of awareness training to waste handlers in both the clinical and municipal setting was significantly deficient, which has to be addressed together with many other variables, starting with the formulation of a resilient waste management protocol. Furthermore, waste management protocols have to be expert-revised periodically. © 2023 ICE Publishing. All rights reserved.
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The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the demand for personal protective equipment, in particular face masks, thus leading to a huge amount of healthcare waste generated worldwide. Consequently, such an unprecedented amount of newly emerged waste has posed significant challenges to practitioners, policy-makers, and municipal authorities involved in waste management (WM) systems. This research aims at mapping the COVID-19-related scientific production to date in the field of WM. In this vein, the performance indicators of the target literature were analyzed and discussed through conducting a bibliometric analysis. The conceptual structure of COVID-19-related WM research, including seven main research themes, were uncovered and visualized through a text mining analysis as follows: (1) household and food waste, (2) personnel safety and training for waste handling, (3) sustainability and circular economy, (4) personal protective equipment and plastic waste, (5) healthcare waste management practices, (6) wastewater management, and (7) COVID-19 transmission through infectious waste. Finally, a research agenda for WM practices and activities in the post-COVID-19 era was proposed, focusing on the following three identified research gaps: (i) developing a systemic framework to properly manage the pandemic crisis implications for WM practices as a whole, following a systems thinking approach, (ii) building a circular economy model encompassing all activities from the design stage to the implementation stage, and (iii) proposing incentives to effectively involve informal sectors and local capacity in decentralizing municipal waste management, with a specific focus on developing and less-developed countries.
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The healthcare sector is an ever-growing industry which produces a vast amount of waste each year, and it is crucial for healthcare systems to have an effective and sustainable medical waste management system in order to protect public health. Greek public hospitals in 2018 produced 9500 tons of hazardous healthcare wastes, and it is expected to reach 18,200 tons in 2025 and exceed 18,800 tons in 2030. In this paper, we investigated the factors that affect healthcare wastes. We obtained data from all Greek public hospitals and conducted a regression analysis, with the management cost of waste and the kilos of waste as the dependent variables, and a number of variables reflecting the characteristics of each hospital and its output as the independent variables. We applied and compared several models. Our study shows that healthcare wastes are affected by several individual-hospital characteristics, such as the number of beds, the type of the hospital, the services the hospital provides, the number of annual inpatients, the days of stay, the total number of surgeries, the existence of special units, and the total number of employees. Finally, our study presents two prediction models concerning the management costs and quantities of infectious waste for Greece's public hospitals and proposes specific actions to reduce healthcare wastes and the respective costs, as well as to implement and adopt certain tools, in terms of sustainability.
Subject(s)
Medical Waste Disposal , Waste Management , Delivery of Health Care , Greece , Hazardous Waste , Hospitals, Public , Humans , Public SectorABSTRACT
This study presents a comprehensive analysis on policies governing the management of COVID-19 waste in the Philippines, highlighting gaps in pre-existing policies and opportunities for further policy development and adaptation in the context of present and future public health emergencies. A hybrid search strategy and consultative process identified fifty (50) policy documents directly impacting the management of wastes (general domestic, healthcare, and household healthcare waste) released prior to and during the pandemic. Content analysis revealed comprehensive policy coverage on managing general domestic waste and healthcare waste. However, there remains a dearth in policies for managing household healthcare waste, an emerging category for waste generated by patients isolating at home or in isolation facilities. Applicable, pre-existing policies were neither adequate nor specific to this category, and may therefore be subjected to variable interpretation and mismanagement when applied to this novel waste category. Assessment using the modified Cradle-to-End-Of-Life (CTEOL) framework revealed adequate policy coverage across the waste lifecycle stages. However, policies on reducing waste generation were relatively minimal and outdated, and policy gaps in waste segregation led to downstream inefficiencies and introduction of environmental health risks in waste collection, treatment, and disposal. The internal validity of policies was also evaluated against eleven (11) criteria adapted from Rütten et al. and Cheung et al. The criteria analysis revealed strong fulfillment of ensuring policy accessibility, goal clarity, provision of human resources, and strength of policy background, but weak fulfillment of criteria on providing adequate financing, organizational capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, and encouragement of opportunities for public participation. We conclude that existing waste management policies in the Philippines leave much room for improvement to ensure effective management of COVID-19 waste from various settings and circumstances. Hence, these policies are expected to adapt and evolve over time, utilizing the best available technology and environmental practices. Integrated, region-wide waste management systems, involving both government and society, and strengthened by equitable provisional support are needed for effective waste management that is both inclusive and resilient in the face of present and future pandemics.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Waste Management , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Humans , Pandemics , Philippines , PolicyABSTRACT
Alongside with all its difficulties and tragic consequences, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has also caused a drastic increase in the amount of the generated healthcare wastes. Healthcare wastes can accelerate the further spread of the virus and threaten the health of citizens and the environment. In order to deal with this lateral problem of the on-going pandemic, face-mask wastes were processed and recycled in concrete materials. The objective of this research was to investigate the influences of recycled facemask products on the performance of concrete. To do so, the compressive and splitting tensile strength tests were performed to assess the mechanical behaviour of concrete with and without of the recycled facemask products. Moreover, gas permeability test was conducted on the designed samples before and after exposure to fire temperature, to verify whether the proposed addition provides a similar effect like conventional polypropylene fibres, or not. The results were supplemented with the heat of cement hydration measurements.
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Hazardous healthcare waste (HCW) management system is one of the most critical urban systems affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the increase in waste generation rate in hospitals and medical centers dealing with infected patients as well as the degree of hazardousness of generated waste due to exposure to the virus. In this regard, waste network flow would face severe problems without taking care of hazardous waste through disinfection facilities. For this purpose, this study aims to develop an advanced decision support system based on a multi-stage model that was combined with the random forest recursive feature elimination (RF-RFE) algorithm, the indifference threshold-based attribute ratio analysis (ITARA), and measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution (MARCOS) methods into a unique framework under the Fermatean fuzzy environment. In the first stage, the innovative Fermatean fuzzy RF-RFE algorithm extracts core criteria from a finite set of initial criteria. In the second stage, the novel Fermatean fuzzy ITARA determines the semi-objective importance of the core criteria. In the third stage, the new Fermatean fuzzy MARCOS method ranks alternatives. A real-life case study in Istanbul, Turkey, illustrates the applicability of the introduced methodology. Our empirical findings indicate that "Pendik" is the best among five candidate locations for sitting a new disinfection facility for hazardous HCW in Istanbul. The sensitivity and comparative analyses confirmed that our approach is highly robust and reliable. This approach could be used to tackle other critical multi-dimensional problems related to COVID-19 and support sustainability and circular economy. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10479-022-04822-0.
ABSTRACT
The resilience of a new national healthcare waste management protocol was compared in hospital and community settings in Ethiopia during the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim was also to evaluate the flexibility and implementation status of the guidelines for healthcare waste management in the context of a pandemic. The study was performed in a cross-sectional design by using a structured questionnaire, checklists, and through a systematic review. Primary and secondary data were collected, including those from municipal sites, Yekatit 12 Hospital and other relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, the data were analysed and compared to the global practices and standards. The study revealed there was a comparable difference in the level of care taken during healthcare waste management between health care institutions and in the community in Addis Ababa city. Provision of awareness training to waste handlers in both the clinical and municipal setting were great deficiencies, which has to be addressed together with many other variables beginning from the formulation of a resilient waste management protocol. Furthermore, waste management protocols have to be expert-revised periodically. © 2022 ICE Publishing: All rights reserved.
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Biomedical waste is broadly classified as Hazardous and non-hazardous healthcare waste. Hazardous waste includes Pathological waste, Pharmaceutical waste, infectious waste and chemical waste etc. Non-hazardous waste is the general health care waste that adds waste while packaging, administrative and from housekeeping etc., from a research laboratory and any pharmaceuticals. Around 25% of the healthcare wastes are infectious, which produces serious health care issues and a hazardous consequence on the environment if not handled properly. This paper aims at providing a monitoring and alerting system in disposing of waste that releases harmful gases into the environment. The proposed method monitors the gas leakage from the collected waste. If the waste concentration exceeds the optimum limit, it alerts the system to dispose of it immediately. © 2022 IEEE.
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The COVID-19 outbreak has not only put the community health at stake but, also the environmental health. Usually, the healthcare wastes (HCWs) are composed of 15-20% of the infectious wastes and the rest of the non-infectious wastes. But, during any communicable health outbreak like COVID-19, the whole HCWs coming from the infected people become contagious. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the infectious waste is not only limited to the hospitals' premises, but also comes from the households, where COVID19 infected people are under home quarantine. Hence, keeping in mind the explosive growth in generation rates of infectious HCWs, the present study targets to expand the treatment and disposal capacity by installing temporary healthcare waste treatment facilities (HCWTFs). The study identifies ten criteria from the literature review and in consultation with the field experts, to evaluate the potential candidates for setting up temporary HCWTF during the health outbreaks. The study proposes a hybrid methodology based on grey analytical hierarchy process (G-AHP) and grey operational competitiveness rating analysis (grey-OCRA) for prioritizing the evaluation criteria and selecting the optimal temporary HCWTF location by considering the experts' inputs, respectively. The stakeholders consider the 'proximity to the inhabitation', 'infrastructure availability', and 'transportation distance' are the most important criteria for selecting the temporary HCWTF location. The proposed methodology is applied to select the temporary HCWTF location in Sundargarh District, Odisha, India. The study identifies the four locations by using geographical information system (GIS) tools and sequences them as per the preferences given by the stakeholders on various identified criteria. The study may be useful for the administration to set up the temporary facilities to quickly dispose of the extra HCWs during the pandemics. However, the future studies can be targeted to coordinate the collection, storage and transportation activities with the temporary HCWTFs.
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Management of healthcare waste has gained wide attention in the recent years. This work reviews recent sustainable management of healthcare waste practices, the importance of legalizations, role of clinical waste producing bodies, emerging management trends, and treatment technologies. Furthermore, waste generated in the treatment processes and the health and environmental impacts of recent technologies are also examined. Sustainable assessment of technologies, to this point, revealed that in often cases, autoclave assisted with shredder could be a better alternative for the treatment of hazardous healthcare wastes while landfilling of healthcare waste received the lowest ranking. Studies are required to consider more reliable assessment methods for treatment technologies. This work can serve educators, researchers, as well as all the medical staff from nurses to doctors and volunteers who tirelessly contribute to the society in keeping people away from many diseases including the current global pandemic outbreak due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 through the best and most sustainable practices in medical waste management.
ABSTRACT
The present pandemic, while causing economic slowdown and global panic, also generated healthcare waste in unprecedented amounts across the globe, due to mass screenings/diagnosing/treatment. This paper aims to explore the prospects of the current and future challenges with respect to the risk to human health due to environmental contamination with the healthcare waste generated as a result of and caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the Indian context. Peer-reviewed literature with respect to healthcare waste generation during the pandemic, its burden, challenges, and policies promulgated during the pandemic and their implications for the future was searched on various databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct and reviewed. Many research studies and international reports have demonstrated that the quantity of biomedical waste has increased in the times of the Covid-19 pandemic across the globe. Additionally, the danger of general waste getting contaminated has also multiplied, in part due to increased quarantine facilities and home quarantines, along with hospitals managing Covid-19 patients and also due to inadequate segregation at the point of generation of such waste, which is a major concern in itself. The occupational exposure of this increased waste to hospital and municipal waste collection workers has also increased, though World Health Organization (WHO) declines having any evidence of transmission of coronavirus while handling healthcare waste. Enough policies existed before the pandemic and few newer guidelines are also issued to address various additional aspects, which are to be implemented to manage the healthcare waste, minimize threats to the environment and human health. Cleaner, greener waste management facilities, the inclusion of bio-disaster in disaster management, the social impact of waste management policies, and waste reduction are to be prioritized. © 2021 Technoscience Publications. All rights reserved.
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Malaysia recorded 880,782 cumulative confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 6,613 deaths as of July 15, 2021. The impact of the high number of infections and movement control order (MCO), Malaysia experienced a 60% to 70% increase in total household waste generation and 120% to 150% increase in healthcare waste. This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review on the general scenario of COVID-19 pandemic waste management in Malaysia. The research methodology is by referring to the literatures in the scholar sites including Scopus, Web of Science and Malay Language journals using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) model. English journals were screened using the Central Access Database for Impact Assessment (CADIMA) software, while Malay journals screening was conducted using the Academia.edu search engine. The screening results found that a total of 43 articles out of 571 articles were identified to meet the study criteria. The findings of this study present the pandemic situation in Malaysia, the impact on waste management, the updating of guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as the flow of waste management procedures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic period. This study provides insights into the infectious waste management implemented in Malaysia, elucidating how waste management affects the spread of infection and necessary information on healthcare waste management procedures that have been updated by WHO (2020). Proposed further study on the waste management process in depth based on the guidelines that have been updated by WHO (2020) in health centers, residential areas and public places.