To All Frontliners, We Thank You

Covid-19 pandemic has brought great uncertainty and vulnerability to the world, a crisis never thought of! It seems like a sci-fi movie where stars are not ‘superheroes’ but ‘frontline’ workers. Among these frontline league of heroes, healthcare workers shine the most – and rightfully so. But there are other essential service providers, such as sanitation workers, waste collectors, and store clerks being the backbone of the country in such difficult times.

Waste generation never stops so do the waste services, the garbage collection from hospitals, quarantine facilities, and residents is continuing around the world. The waste industry in Pakistan even pre-Covid pandemic had limited capacity and service provision, which now is being hit the hardest. 1) Waste collectors are now handling potential infected and hazardous waste 2) Lack of safety and personal protection gears increasing their exposure to Covid virus.

Municipalities around the world are urging residents to join the league of heroes and help essential service providers win this pandemic!

- Avoid excessive cleaning (spring or garden cleaning) to prevent overloading facilities.

- Manage residential medical waste (gloves and masks) adequately.

- Stay home if you are sick. Quarantine yourself from other members of the family. Phone a medic if you experience COVID-19 symptoms and follow medical advice. And if extra careful of the waste generated during the quarantine. Also, inform your waste management service provider to follow up on the waste collector who collected waste from potential covid positive residents.

Fahad Kamdar, General Manager at NJC Waste Management Systems NJC waste management company explains this during a discussion:

“Since this novel virus can retain on different surfaces for hours and days. When a resident places a mask or glove in the bin or bag, the virus can move along the surfaces and to the handles of the bins and bags. Thus, it poses great risk and exposure to the waste collectors if not fully equipped with PPE.”

Zoe Lenkiewicz, a waste expert at WasteAid UK explained to us how residents should be disposing of their medical waste;

“Store the medical waste being produced at homes (masks, gloves) for 72 hours at home before handing it over to waste collectors or put them in rigid bags and inform the waste collector that it contains medical waste. Since the Covid virus has the resistance to stay on varying surfaces for about 5 days, the potential possibility of cross-contamination and exposure.”

So if your waste collector is an informal sector (which is very likely since formal collection rate of waste in Pakistan is hardly 50%) store your medical waste for 72 hours and advice the workers to wear personal protection equipment (PPE) – in case they are not, while maintaining the social distance.

Fahad noted and explained that

“As the lockdown is easing, people have started eating out or having food delivers which adds to waste collectors risk – those food containers and packaging is handled by many (people and surfaces) before it reaches to resident/costumer”

– suggesting to maintain precautionary measures even when the government lax the regulations, as long as the Covid exposure remains we must abide by self-precautionary measures and act as responsible citizens, particularly when it comes to waste. At the age of technology and prevalent information, aware yourself with the biology of waste.

We must remember that we are all in the is together and must play whatever role we can – frankly, there are many roles we can play, all of us can be heroes so let’s act like one and be more responsive to help essential workers do their jobs safely!

The men and women who are continuing to provide waste services; picking up and disposing of our waste and recycling despite the dangers imposed by the novel Covid-19 virus. For this, we want to say a special thank you to all for these essential services and their continuity, each and every day.

#FaceBehindMyWaste #ISWA #ISWAYPG #ISWAYPGFlagship2020