How to treat hundreds of millions of masks harmlessly? Is it dry garbage or wet garbage?
Zhongxin Jingwei Client February 4 (Wei Wei) Buying masks has become the hottest topic at present, and how to deal with discarded masks has become another big problem. With the development of epidemic situation in novel coronavirus, medical waste disposal capacity is facing new challenges. In order to win this battle in the rear and prevent the virus from causing secondary pollution, 20 places including Sichuan Province, Gansu Province, Henan Province, Jiangsu Province and Tianjin City are fully deploying medical hazardous waste treatment, and many places have selected medical waste disposal companies.
Wuhan’s medical waste disposal capacity has been overloaded.
"In our industry group, the problem of how to deal with medical waste has been discussed since New Year’s Eve." Qu Ruijing, director of the Strategy Committee of Zhongguancun Green Creation Environmental Governance Alliance, told the reporter of Zhongxin Jingwei.
A medical waste disposal war is quietly starting, with front-line sanitation workers, local environmental protection management departments and various environmental protection enterprises rushing to the front line.
Every day, a large number of medical wastes are generated from hospitals, and then collected and transported to designated medical waste disposal companies through sanitation operation units for harmless treatment.
In fact, after the outbreak of SARS in 2003, the harmless treatment of medical waste was put on the agenda. In June 2003, the State Council issued and implemented the Regulations on the Management of Medical Wastes. It is clearly stipulated that cities with no centralized disposal facilities or insufficient disposal capacity shall build centralized disposal facilities for medical wastes within one year from the date of implementation of the regulations; County-level cities should build centralized medical waste disposal facilities within 2 years.
"Generally, there is at least one enterprise that can handle medical waste in cities above the municipal level, and there may be 2-3 enterprises in some larger cities. The total number of companies qualified to handle medical waste in China exceeds 1,000." Zhang Yi, chairman of China Strategic Emerging Industry Environmental Protection Alliance, conducted a survey on environmental protection enterprises in various places a few years ago.
Qu Ruijing believes that although the number of companies dealing with medical waste has been increasing in recent years, the treatment capacity is also improving, but the treatment capacity of medical waste is facing a test in some areas with serious epidemics.
Wuhan Hanshi Environmental Protection Engineering Co., Ltd. undertakes the collection, transportation and disposal of medical wastes generated by medical institutions in Wuhan, Hubei Province, where the epidemic is high, and handles 50 tons of medical wastes every day. John young, the person in charge of the enterprise, said in an interview with China Environmental News that "medical waste supplies are small in weight but large in size, so they should be tightly packed. With the increase of collection, there are insufficient transportation devices."
According to the official Weibo of Hubei CNPC Youyi Environmental Protection Company (hereinafter referred to as "CNPC Environmental Protection Company"), on January 27th, Wuhan’s medical waste collection and transshipment capacity became tight, Hubei Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment collected medical waste transport vehicles in the province, and CNPC Environmental Protection Xiangyang Company located in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province started the plan. On January 29th, the first batch of 5 medical waste transport vehicles and 12 professional medical waste disposal workers brought their own protective equipment and materials to assist Wuhan in emergency collection and transfer of medical waste.
The first batch of environmental protection aid workers of PetroChina Source: Guan Wei of Xiangyang Environmental Protection Bureau
Since then, Wuhan’s medical waste treatment capacity has gradually saturated, and it has to be transported to environmental protection enterprises in surrounding cities for disposal. On the afternoon of February 1st, CNPC Environmental Xiangyang Company held a swearing-in meeting, and the company began to receive and dispose of Wuhan medical waste.
"Because medical waste disposal cannot cross the city, the distance from Wuhan to Xiangyang is not close, which indirectly indicates that the medical waste disposal in Wuhan and surrounding cities should be overloaded at this stage." An industry insider who did not want to be named said.
According to the website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the "Management and Technical Guide for Emergency Disposal of Medical Wastes Infected by Pneumonia in novel coronavirus (Trial)" issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on January 28 pointed out that all localities can choose mobile medical waste disposal facilities, hazardous waste incineration facilities, domestic waste incineration facilities, industrial furnaces and other facilities for emergency disposal of medical wastes infected by pneumonia, and implement fixed-point management; It is also possible to transfer the medical waste from pneumonia epidemic to the centralized medical waste disposal facilities in the neighboring areas for disposal according to the cross-regional coordination mechanism of emergency disposal.
20 to start the emergency disposal of medical waste.
In addition to Hubei Province, there are also confirmed cases of pneumonia in novel coronavirus in other provinces. The reporter from Zhongxin Jingwei found that medical waste management was deployed in 20 places including Sichuan, Gansu, Henan, Jiangsu, Ningxia, Henan, Qinghai, Liaoning, Guangdong, Fujian, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Anhui, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing.
In order to ensure that medical wastes can be disposed of harmlessly in time in case of overload, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment first identified Chengdu Xingrong Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., China Energy Conservation (Panzhihua) Clean Technology Development Co., Ltd., Nanchong Jiayuan Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Zhongming Environmental Treatment Co., Ltd. as the spare facilities for the disposal of medical wastes in pneumonia epidemic in the whole province.
The Department of Ecology and Environment of Henan Province issued a document pointing out that centralized hazardous waste disposal units operating at full load or overload in Zhengzhou, Anyang, Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, Xuchang, Sanmenxia, Xinyang and Zhumadian should ensure that the generated medical waste is disposed in place. When the disposal capacity of the centralized medical waste disposal unit cannot meet the requirements of medical waste disposal during the epidemic, other emergency medical waste disposal facilities can be adopted with the approval of the local ecological and environmental departments to increase the temporary medical waste disposal capacity.
The Shaanxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment has made it clear that those who have insufficient or no disposal capacity (such as pathological and chemical wastes) at the time of the epidemic can choose to send them to the centralized disposal facilities of medical wastes in neighboring areas for disposal, or use alternative facilities for disposal locally.
The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment said that it is necessary to fully consider the increment of subsequent medical waste, improve the emergency disposal capacity plan according to different levels, and make good preparations for personnel and facilities to ensure the timely disposal of medical waste.
"At present, our company is fully capable of disposing of medical waste generated in Nanjing." The staff of Nanjing Huihe Environmental Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. told Zhongxin Jingwei that the company is the only environmental protection enterprise in Nanjing that specializes in the disposal of medical waste, and has two incineration production lines that dispose of 30 tons of medical waste every day. The company made an emergency plan on January 22nd. However, in order to cope with the situation that medical waste may increase sharply in the future and exceed the disposal capacity of the company, the relevant departments have also made a plan and designated several other enterprises to assist in the treatment.
Qu Ruijing predicts that this epidemic will also promote the improvement of China’s medical waste disposal capacity. In 2020, the national medical waste disposal capacity will triple compared with 2019. For the alternative medical waste disposal units selected by many places, Qu Ruijing believes that these environmental protection companies are also expected to obtain the qualification for medical waste disposal after completing the procedures of environmental assessment, safety assessment and stable assessment.
What kind of rubbish do used masks belong to?
Apart from medical waste generated by hospitals, are masks worn by ordinary citizens or protective equipment classified as medical waste? Zhang Yi told Zhongxin Jingwei that there are three kinds of medical waste treatment that should be included in this epidemic. First, the medical staff in the hospital, such as doctors, nurses, nurses and patients, usually use masks, which were originally part of medical waste and are still used as medical waste; Second, the newly added masks and other supplies used by people who have been diagnosed, suspected or are being observed in isolation originally did not belong to medical waste, and now this part should also be regarded as the management category of medical waste; Third, if you have been to a hospital or some public places with a lot of people, you may come into contact with suspected people or have the risk of infection. The masks worn by such people can also be managed as medical waste.
The reporter from Zhongxin Jingwei learned in an interview that in Wuhan, a special collection box for discarded masks has been added in residential areas, and there are clear signs and management tips on it. Zhang Yi introduced that after the residents put them in, these masks also need to be treated in a centralized and harmless way.
Recycling point of used masks in a residential area in Wuhan Source: Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"Citizens in other cities go out once in a while, without going to the hospital or contacting suspected or confirmed patients. This mask can be used repeatedly and can be used as general domestic garbage after simple treatment." Zhang Yi said.
Most cities divide domestic garbage into harmful waste, recyclable garbage, kitchen waste and other garbage. Then, from the perspective of garbage classification, do used masks belong to harmful waste or other garbage? According to Zhang Yi, it depends on the severity of the epidemic and the garbage disposal capacity in different cities. At present, the regulations vary from place to place.
Mask source: Zhongxin Jingwei Dong Xiangyi photo
Previously, the Housing and Construction Departments of Sichuan Province and Hunan Province issued a notice to treat masks discarded by residents during the epidemic and all domestic garbage generated by households with fever symptoms as special harmful waste.
However, Qu Ruijing believes that for most cities, used masks can be put into other garbage, and Shanghai citizens can put them into dry garbage recycling bins.
"The epidemic situation in most cities is not serious, and the masks used by citizens have not yet reached a harmful level. Moreover, at present, the terminal treatment of most domestic garbage is mainly incineration, supplemented by landfill. At present, the main treatment method of medical waste is incineration, but the requirements for environmental protection are higher. Therefore, it is reasonable to treat masks as daily domestic garbage harmlessly. " Qu Ruijing said.
What should ordinary citizens do with their worn masks before throwing away their garbage? Zhang Yi introduced that before throwing the mask, the surface of the mask should be folded inward, then it should be sealed with a fresh-keeping bag and put into a garbage bag, and then thrown into other garbage or dry bins.
"Usually, when we wear a mask, the surface is outward. If the mask is infected with the virus, it will adhere to the surface. If it is handled in reverse, it will be safer. Of course, the virus is on the mask and can infect others for a very short time. It is safer after the above treatment. " Zhang Yi said. (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)