Impacts and Regulations of Healthcare Solid Waste Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Abstract

In a pandemic context, it is essential to intensify precautions related to healthcare solid waste, known as HCSW, ensuring the continuous search for safer management and handling protocols of these materials. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature about the management of healthcare waste during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current investigation was underpinned by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) framework, selected to ensure the comprehensive and transparent presentation of the systematic review. In pursuit of this objective, three distinct keyword combinations were employed, namely, “solid waste management”, “medical waste”, and “COVID-19 pandemic”. Consequently, a total of 76 documents were incorporated into the analysis. The results of this analysis indicate that the amount and treatment of hospital solid waste were significantly affected by the pandemic, bringing impacts on social, economic, and environmental aspects. Recent studies have focused on mitigating these impacts by pursuing “green” solutions, such as implementing sustainable strategies, preserving biodiversity, adopting an eco-conscious lifestyle, improving healthcare infrastructure, raising public awareness, and changing HCSW management policies. In addition, alternative technologies have been explored for the adequate treatment of these wastes, as well as the replacement of harmful materials by safer substances. However, more scientific research on this topic is still needed, especially in the Brazilian context, in order to contribute to the development of strategies that minimize the impacts of the pandemic on both society and the environment.