Impact of a Crisis on Waste Management Policy Adherence And Practices - A Narrative Review of Bio-Medical Waste Management During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

As the greatest threat to humanity since the Black Death of 1929, the COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be the worst and most terrible world-wide health catastrophe of the century. This pandemic has significantly altered the demographics, and ordinary economic activity ceased to save human lives. Although the limited economy has helped to create an environmentally friendly atmosphere, it additionally brought about a significant problem with biomedical waste. This review paper covers the various steps, initiatives, methods, and techniques to degrade biomedical waste(BMW) from hospitals, clinics, production units, workplaces, homes, and laboratories due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the narrative review was to identify how the crisis impacted existing practices of biomedical waste management and adherence to overarching policy frameworks, along with the changes that were initiated in the same. We have reviewed a range of statutory norms, techniques, and methods used to dispose of biomedical waste appropriately during the pandemic. A big challenge to the world today is to dispose of them properly, without promulgating the infection in the immediate and larger environment. The results of the review show that there were definitive changes in the way BMW management practices were followed before and after the pandemic, along with overarching changes in statutory regulations and policy frameworks around these practices. The study also puts forth reasoning behind these changes and recommends a direction and context for the same in order to help prepare for another crisis while reducing the environmental impact of BMW.