HOW TO MANAGE THE WASTE OF COVID-19 AT HOME
The Ministry of Health has issued a series of recommendations that affect both the household management of waste during the days of confinement, and the management of the bag with the waste of the sick patient with COVID-19.
Households with positive and / or quarantine for COVID-19
In the first place, and for the household management of waste, from Health they see that the disposable material used by the sick person and by their caregivers (gloves, handkerchiefs, masks), as well as the personal protective equipment (PPE) of the staff sanitary (except glasses and mask), or any other residue of the patient, must be disposed of in the garbage can arranged in the infected person's room, preferably with the lid and opening pedal.
The plastic bag where the aforementioned waste is deposited must be hermetically sealed and closed before being removed from the room. The mask and goggles should be removed outside the patient's room, where there will also be a container for this purpose, with characteristics similar to those described above, and with a hermetically sealed plastic bag.
After each deposit of waste in these bags (bag 1), they should be closed and discarded as indicated below: “Bag 1 should be closed properly and put into a second garbage bag (bag 2), next to the exit the room, where the gloves and masks used by the caregiver will also be deposited, and will be closed 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). Immediately afterwards a complete hand hygiene will be carried out, with soap and water for at least 40-60 seconds.
Regarding the management of the bag with the patient's waste, the Ministry of Health specifies that bag 3 will be deposited exclusively in the remaining fraction container, being "strictly prohibited" depositing it in the selective collection containers of any of the separated fractions (organic, packaging, paper, glass or textile), or its abandonment in the environment.
Specifically, the remaining fraction collected will go directly to the Energy Recovery Plant where it will be incinerated.
Finally, the most important health body in Spain stresses regarding the management of waste from hospitals, ambulances, health centers, or laboratories, among others, and that they are in contact with COVID-19, that their management will be carried out with respect to the provisions for them in the regional regulation on sanitary waste, as has been customarily done.
Homes without contagion
In households without contagion, the separation of waste will be carried out as usual, depositing each waste in its corresponding container, trying to maximize said separation in order to reduce the remaining fraction generated.
