diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 643d55dba4fb7a501d4f1149b331ab2ecfe5d611..8b5f8060d6708f8ec4e3933585b9c1b73157ec02 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ Patricia  - Figure 2: The expected trend of medical and MSW waste flow durong the pandemic ([Klemes et al., 2020](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7183989/pdf/main.pdf)) + + + - China has the most data on this issue: - Amount of MSW in large and medium cities was reduced by 30% during the disease outbreak. - However, the generation of medical waste increased sharply - by 370% in Hubei Province, with a high proportion of plastics. @@ -25,11 +28,20 @@ Patricia *Waste management & footprint* - Effective management of biomedical & healthcare waste requires appropriate identification, collection, separation, storage, transportation, treatment/disinfection and disposal/recovery. - Figure 3: The main waste handling approaches for contaminated waste during COVID-19 (Klemes et al., 2020) + + + - Incineration and steam sterilisation are the most common pathways for thermal treatment of hazardous medical waste. - Plastics have calorific values comparable to conventional fuels (Gasoline: 43 / LNG: 47 MJ/kg). - Figure 4: The calorific value of plastic and the exhaust gas released by incinerating MSW, hazardous waste and sewage sludge (Klemes et al., 2020). + + + - The energy embodied in plastic waste can be recovered if adequately managed. - Figure 5 shows the typical energy consumption in the life cycle of plastic products (withouth considering the transportation stage). + + + - The embodied energy in the plastic can be recovered through primary and mechanical recycling, energy recovery and possibly chemical recycling (depolymerisation). The energy required for - The concept of Plastic Waste Footprint (PWF) can be used as a metric for environmental burdens, to compare alternative solutions on plastic production & waste management: the total mass of plastic waste generated by a process/product or service minus the amount of plastic avoided /reused / recycled / reprocessed. - Further research: