COVID-19 increased the consumption of personal care and single-use products such as the plastic personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by medical workers when handling patients, and glass vials, needles and safety boxes used in vaccination. This has resulted in tonnes of medical waste that has exposed the capacity gap in waste management in most counties.
This highly contagious and voluminous waste led the County Government of Nakuru into investing in a microwave incinerator and a waste shredder at the Nakuru Level 5 Hospital to protect its healthcare workers, patients and residents in general. The waste management equipment can treat over 250 kg of hazardous waste daily, thoroughly disinfecting, sealing and thereafter shredding it into compostable material and sterilizing it with temperatures of above 100 degrees. It is later dumped safely at the rehabilitated Gioto dumpsite.
This on-site treatment and temporary storage of waste has not only helped reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus through exposure infected materials, but has lessened the threat to human and environmental health overall if the waste were to be burnt in open air and/or carelessly disposed of, finding its way into rivers and littering the environment. It has also exposed a dire need to improve waste management practices to protect the environment and our health.
It is important for all counties to strengthening their waste management systems before another pandemic strikes.