The City Council of Totana reminds that the waste from households with positive or quarantined by COVID-19 will have to be deposited exclusively in the rest fraction container - that of cigarette butts, diapers or household cleaning waste - and after its collection they will go to "incineration, preferably, or to landfill".
The operators of the municipal services for street cleaning and Urban Solid Waste Collection (MSW) already know the protocols for collection, cleaning and disinfection in the face of these possible cases that may proliferate in the coming days.
This is indicated by a general provision of the Ministry of Health published this Sunday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) which establishes instructions on waste management in the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19;
which also specifies that it is "strictly prohibited" to deposit such bags in separate collection containers (organic, packaging, paper, glass or textile) or their abandonment in the environment or on public roads.
As recommended by the Ministry of Health in this general provision, the patient's waste, including the disposable material used by the sick person (gloves, handkerchiefs, masks), must be disposed of in a plastic bag (bag 1) in a bucket of garbage disposed in the room, preferably with lid and opening pedal, without making any separation for recycling.
The plastic bag (bag 1), they add, must be properly closed and placed in a second garbage bag (bag 2), next to the exit of the room, where the gloves and mask used by the caregiver will also be deposited, and it will close properly before leaving the room.
Bag 2, with the previous waste, will be deposited with the rest of the household waste in the garbage bag (bag 3) corresponding to the waste fraction bucket.
Immediately after, a complete hand hygiene will be carried out, with soap and water, for at least 40-60 seconds.
Bag 3 properly closed will be deposited exclusively in the waste fraction container (or in any other waste fraction collection system established by the local entity).
In addition, according to this new order, differentiated collections may be established for bags coming from centers / places where there is a high level of those affected by COVID-19, such as residences or hotels hospitalized, while the health crisis lasts, given the "high level "of associated waste generation.
These bags will be identified externally (for example, by means of insulating tape or similar) and will be deposited according to what is established by the authorities responsible for the collection of waste.
Thus, the measures established for these bags indicate that they will not proceed "in any case" to their manual opening in collection or treatment facilities, which will be used for incineration, preferably, or landfill.
If necessary, the industrial cement manufacturing facilities authorized to co-incinerate waste must proceed to the incineration of the remaining fraction at the request of the competent authorities.
As for the management of waste from households without positive or quarantined by COVID-19, it will continue to be carried out in the usual way in accordance with ordinary waste management regulations.
Likewise, residues in contact with COVID-19 from hospitals, ambulances, health centers, laboratories, or similar establishments, as well as those derived from the disinfection of facilities (such as gloves, masks or gowns) will be considered as "residues infectious "and will be managed as such, according to the provisions for them in the regional regulation on sanitary waste.
"The filling of the containers available in these centers should be maximized for each one of the types of waste generated, avoiding delivering them to authorized managers without optimizing their capacity, so that the most efficient management possible is achieved," indicates the general layout.
