Solid Waste Management in India Under COVID19 Pandemic: Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, most commonly known as Coronavirus, was emerged first in the Wuhan city of China in the late 2019 and proved to be an unprecedented threat to the whole world since then. It has truly imposed a restriction on human lives in many countries and has taught us a new way of living. Being the second-most populous country in the world and one of the top contenders in the hierarchy in terms of coronavirus infection, India is facing far extreme consequences of this unrestrained outbreak than many other countries in the same league. Apart from all the other challenges put forward by the existence of SAR-CoV-2, there is a need of proper management to handle the different types of solid waste especially Biomedical Waste (BMW) emerging from different health care facilities, quarantine homes, and centers, that is appearing in a huge amount every day and the possible challenges we are facing while confronting the problem of this waste, that could be a source itself to spread this contagious virus, if not handled and treated properly. In this paper, we have discussed briefly the susceptibility of the virus due to biomedical waste produced daily as a result of curing infected patients. This paper also put across the challenges and the solution to handle this waste in India before it is disposed of.