As Thailand continues its efforts to dispense with the coronavirus, at least as a devastating pandemic, another major challenge has emerged: how to dispose of medical waste.
The use of face masks and antigen test kits (ATKs) has become the new normal, generating huge amounts of potentially infectious waste that poses a health threat if not properly managed.
Reports by local media on Monday detailed how residents in Nonthaburi's Bang Bua Thong complained that facial masks and ATKs were being mixed with regular household waste.
Alarmingly, the same situation seems to be happening in most parts of Bangkok and other urban areas across the nation. Compounding matters, a continued surge of the highly transmissible Omicron strain means even more medical waste.
Throwing medical waste in general trash bins puts garbage collectors as well as those searching for recyclable material at great risk.
Such a state of affairs would seemingly make it impossible to control the pandemic, which is expected to be downgraded to endemic in a few months.
According to the Health Department, more than 780 tonnes of infectious waste is now being generated daily in the kingdom, double the manageable capacity of 342 tonnes. The daily rate is expected to hit 800 tonnes next month.
In Bangkok, City Hall through Krungthep Thanakom, the agency's business arm, said last year it collected from health establishments across the capital about 17 tonnes of Covid-19 infected waste every day. This was then sent to incineration sites in Nong Khaem and On Nut for disposal. The amount is a little less than one-third of the total waste, totalling 46.8 tonnes a day. If bio-hazardous waste is included, however, the total is almost 100 tonnes a day.In a bid to improve management capacity, the Industry Ministry in conjunction with related agencies is turning to factories and power plants, asking them to use Covid-contaminated waste as fuel. Eleven factories including industrial incinerators and cement plants are reportedly set to join this effort, along with some power plants. If things go as planned, this will significantly improve the situation.
Such a bold initiative is welcome. But it's hindered by the lack of an efficient waste-collection processes. State authorities, notably the BMA, must provide more bins and set up a proper collection system, one that's convenient for residents with prearranged collection spots such as at markets, community centres and schools.
Last year, the BMA announced it had placed 1,000 red bins for Covid-19 waste across the city and arranged for designated collection dates. That number seems too low to be truly effective, not to mention that few people were then or are now aware of such a system.
The BMA should see to it that each district office rolls out a waste-collection plan and implements it as soon as possible.
To enhance these efforts, authorities should seek cooperation from other sectors like businesses and civic groups that have the resources to make them more effective.
More attention must also be paid to education, ensuring the public knows how to handle such waste and separate it from other household waste and put in clearly marked containers until it can be picked up. Achieving this goal will require a well-considered and effectively communicated plan. In other words, a plan that's anything but rubbish.
