IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i5p4310-d1083244.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of COVID-19 on Waste Infrastructure: Lessons Learned and Opportunities for a Sustainable Future

Author

Listed:
  • Poornima A. Jayasinghe

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada)

  • Hamoun Jalilzadeh

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada)

  • Patrick Hettiaratchi

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada)

Abstract

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic posed many global challenges, mainly in the healthcare sector; however, the impacts on other vital sectors cannot be overlooked. The waste sector was one of the significantly impacted sectors during the pandemic, as it dramatically changed the dynamics of waste generation. Inadequate waste management practices during COVID-19 shed light on the opportunities for developing systematic, sustainable, and resilient waste infrastructure in the future. This study aimed to exploit the learnings of COVID-19 to identify any potential opportunities in post-pandemic waste infrastructure. A comprehensive review on existing case studies was conducted to understand the waste generation dynamics and the waste management strategies during COVID-19. Infectious medical waste from healthcare facilities had the largest influx of waste compared with non-medical waste from residential and other sectors. This study then identified five key opportunities from a long-term operational perspective: considering healthcare waste sector as a critical area of focus; encouraging the integration and decentralization of waste management facilities; developing systematic and novel approaches and tools for quantifying waste; shifting towards a circular economy approach; and modernizing policies to improve the effectiveness of the post-pandemic waste management infrastructure.

Suggested Citation

  • Poornima A. Jayasinghe & Hamoun Jalilzadeh & Patrick Hettiaratchi, 2023. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Waste Infrastructure: Lessons Learned and Opportunities for a Sustainable Future," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-14, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4310-:d:1083244
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4310/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4310/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Juana Camacho-Otero & Casper Boks & Ida Nilstad Pettersen, 2018. "Consumption in the Circular Economy: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-25, August.
    2. Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Fan, Yee Van & Tan, Raymond R. & Jiang, Peng, 2020. "Minimising the present and future plastic waste, energy and environmental footprints related to COVID-19," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Anastasios Sepetis & Paraskevi N. Zaza & Fotios Rizos & Pantelis G. Bagos, 2022. "Identifying and Predicting Healthcare Waste Management Costs for an Optimal Sustainable Management System: Evidence from the Greek Public Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Mujahid Ali & Afonso R. G. de Azevedo & Markssuel T. Marvila & Muhammad Imran Khan & Abdul Muhaimin Memon & Faisal Masood & Najib Mohammed Yahya Almahbashi & Muhammad Kashif Shad & Mudassir Ali Khan &, 2021. "The Influence of COVID-19-Induced Daily Activities on Health Parameters—A Case Study in Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-22, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Konstantinos Kokkinos & Evangelia Lakioti & Konstantinos Moustakas & Constantinos Tsanaktsidis & Vayos Karayannis, 2023. "Sustainable Medical Waste Management Using an Intuitionistic Fuzzy-Based Decision Support System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Weronika Urbańska & Anna Janda & Magdalena Osial & Mateusz Słowikowski, 2023. "Sustainable Municipal Waste Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Case Study of Poland," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Yeboah, Samuel, 2023. "Navigating Sustainability: Unveiling Responsible Consumption and Production in Developing Economies for SDG 12 Achievement," MPRA Paper 118214, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Jul 2023.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    2. Monia Niero & Charlotte L. Jensen & Chiara Farné Fratini & Jens Dorland & Michael S. Jørgensen & Susse Georg, 2021. "Is life cycle assessment enough to address unintended side effects from Circular Economy initiatives?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1111-1120, October.
    3. Veknesh Arumugam & Ismail Abdullah & Irwan Syah Md Yusoff & Nor Liza Abdullah & Ramli Mohd Tahir & Ahadi Mohd Nasir & Ammar Ehsan Omar & Muhammad Heikal Ismail, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Solid Waste Generation in the Perspectives of Socioeconomic and People’s Behavior: A Case Study in Serdang, Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-11, November.
    4. S. Bhattacharya & R. Ajwani-Ramchandani & Shishir Kumar Jha & C.J. Chiappetta Jabbour & V.G. Venkatesh, 2023. "Prologue for the Virtual Special Issue on Social Circular Consumption- Exploring the Role of the Bottom of Pyramid," Post-Print hal-04458204, HAL.
    5. Min Su & Qiang Wang & Rongrong Li, 2021. "How to Dispose of Medical Waste Caused by COVID-19? A Case Study of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Teng, Sin Yong & Orosz, Ákos & How, Bing Shen & Jansen, Jeroen J. & Friedler, Ferenc, 2023. "Retrofit heat exchanger network optimization via graph-theoretical approach: Pinch-bounded N-best solutions allows positional swapping," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    7. Farrukh Rafiq & Mohd Adil & Mohd Sadiq, 2022. "Does Contextual Factor Influence Travelers’ Towel Reuse Behavior? Insights from Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Anna Kremel, 2024. "Consumer Behaviour in a Circular System – How Values Promote and Hinder the Participation of Young Adults in the Swedish Deposit-Refund System for Beverage Packaging," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 1427-1446, June.
    9. Alla Mostepaniuk & Turgay Akalin & Mohammad Reza Parish, 2023. "Practices Pursuing the Sustainability of A Healthcare Organization: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    10. João M. Lopes & Sofia Gomes & Tiago Trancoso, 2023. "The Dark Side of Green Marketing: How Greenwashing Affects Circular Consumption?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, July.
    11. Flaviu Moldovan & Liviu Moldovan, 2024. "Sustainable Waste Management in Orthopedic Healthcare Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-13, June.
    12. Marcos Ferasso & Tatiana Beliaeva & Sascha Kraus & Thomas Clauss & Domingo Ribeiro‐Soriano, 2020. "Circular economy business models: The state of research and avenues ahead," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3006-3024, December.
    13. Anna Barford & Saffy Rose Ahmad, 2021. "A Call for a Socially Restorative Circular Economy: Waste Pickers in the Recycled Plastics Supply Chain," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 761-782, September.
    14. Odette Lobato-Calleros & Karla Fabila-Rodríguez & Brian Roberts, 2022. "Methodology to Improve the Acceptance and Adoption of Circular and Social Economy: A Longitudinal Case Study of a Biodiesel Cooperative," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-34, September.
    15. Tomasz Wołowiec & Iuliia Myroshnychenko & Ihor Vakulenko & Sylwester Bogacki & Anna Maria Wiśniewska & Svitlana Kolosok & Vitaliy Yunger, 2022. "International Impact of COVID-19 on Energy Economics and Environmental Pollution: A Scoping Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-26, November.
    16. Abdulkarim Hasan Rashed & Afzal Shah, 2021. "The role of private sector in the implementation of sustainable development goals," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 2931-2948, March.
    17. Sehrish Atif, 2023. "Mapping circular economy principles and servitisation approach in business model canvas: an integrated literature review," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    18. Zhong, Chao & Tan, Jiqiu & Zuo, Hongyan & Wu, Xin & Wang, Shaoli & Liu, Junan, 2021. "Synergy effects analysis on CDPF regeneration performance enhancement and NOx concentration reduction of NH3–SCR over Cu–ZSM–5," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    19. Pedro Manuel Sousa & Maria João Moreira & Ana Pinto de Moura & Rui Costa Lima & Luís Miguel Cunha, 2021. "Consumer Perception of the Circular Economy Concept Applied to the Food Domain: An Exploratory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    20. Christof Falkenberg & Carina Schneeberger & Siegfried Pöchtrager, 2023. "Is Sustainability Reporting Promoting a Circular Economy? Analysis of Companies’ Sustainability Reports in the Agri-Food Sector in the Scope of Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and EU Taxo," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4310-:d:1083244. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.