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Review
. 2023 May 17:1-18.
doi: 10.1007/s13762-023-04975-w. Online ahead of print.

Biomedical waste plastic: bacteria, disinfection and recycling technologies-a comprehensive review

S Sahoo  1   2 , W Rathod  1 , H Vardikar  1 , M Biswal  1 , S Mohanty  1 , S K Nayak  2
Affiliations
Review

Biomedical waste plastic: bacteria, disinfection and recycling technologies-a comprehensive review

S Sahoo et al. Int J Environ Sci Technol (Tehran). .

Abstract

Plastic recycling reduces the wastage of potentially useful materials as well as the consumption of virgin materials, thereby lowering the energy consumption, air pollution by incineration, soil and water pollution by landfilling. Plastics used in the biomedical sector have played a significant role. Reducing the transmission of the virus while protecting the human life in particular the frontline workers. Enormous volumes of plastics in biomedical waste have been observed during the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19. This has resulted from the extensive use of personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, face shields, bottles, sanitizers, gowns, and other medical plastics which has created challenges to the existing waste management system in the developing countries. The current review focuses on the biomedical waste and its classification, disinfection, and recycling technology of different types of plastics waste generated in the sector and their corresponding approaches toward end-of-life option and value addition. This review provides a broader overview of the process to reduce the volume of plastics from biomedical waste directly entering the landfill while providing a knowledge step toward the conversion of "waste" to "wealth." An average of 25% of the recyclable plastics are present in biomedical waste. All the processes discussed in this article accounts for cleaner techniques and a sustainable approach to the treatment of biomedical waste.

Keywords: Biomedical waste; Blends; Covid-19; Disinfection; Plastic waste management; Recycling.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
COVID-19 BMW generation data during June 2021 (CPCB 2022)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
BMW generation from August 2020 to August 2022 (CPCB 2022)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
BMW generated during vaccination drive
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Categories of healthcare waste as per the World Health Organization (Alhumoud and Alhumoud ; Shareefdeen ; Devi and Krishna 2019)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
SARS-CoV-2 survival times on different environmental surfaces
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Type of plastic used in medical application (Sastri 2014)
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Principle of circular economy (Guillot 2015)
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
a Schematic of open recycling process. b Depicted the closed-loop recycling process
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Depicted the life cycle of MP waste
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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