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. 2021 Mar 1:122:49-54.
doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.01.004. Epub 2021 Jan 21.

Waste disposal characteristics and data variability in a mid-sized Canadian city during COVID-19

Amy Richter  1 , Kelvin Tsun Wai Ng  2 , Hoang Lan Vu  1 , Golam Kabir  3
Affiliations

Waste disposal characteristics and data variability in a mid-sized Canadian city during COVID-19

Amy Richter et al. Waste Manag. .

Abstract

COVID-19, declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, has caused governments to react swiftly with a variety of measures to quell the spread of the virus. This study investigates changes in waste disposal characteristics and the relationship between the mass of biomedical waste disposed and new COVID-19 tests performed in Regina, Canada. Results suggest that between May and September 2020, significant differences in the median amount of waste disposed exist. The amount of monthly waste disposed was slightly lower to about 450-550 tonnes/month. Monthly waste data variability, however, was significantly lower. Seasonal effects on total waste disposal is observed, but is less obvious than pre-COVID time. Furthermore, the distribution of different waste fractions varies, probably due to operational and industrial characteristics. A non-linear relationship exists between the number of COVID-19 tests performed and the mass of biomedical waste disposed, perhaps due to a lagged relationship between biomedical waste generation and disposal.

Keywords: COVID-19; Canadian solid waste management; Data spread and skewness; Municipal landfill management; Treated biomedical waste; Waste disposal behaviors.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Boxplots of solid waste disposal distribution at Regina in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, and (c) 2020. Blue-toned color represents warmer months, and red-toned color represents colder months. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Violin plot of waste disposal from 2018 to 2020 for (a) mixed solid waste (b) C&D waste, (c) grit, (d) mixes asphalt shingles (e) asphalt shingles only, (f) treated biomedical waste.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Joint plot of number of tests and weight (tonnes) of treated biomedical waste disposed in Regina weekly between March 22nd and September 13th 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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