Shenzhen has to deal with tons of medical wastes each day since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The city’s ecological environment departments have launched strict standards and rules to ensure that daily medical wastes are safely and timely disposed every day, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
Medical waste disposal includes procedures such as waste collection at quarantined places, transport and incineration.
To get a better idea on the whole medical waste handling process, a Daily reporter visited some sources for medical wastes like quarantined sites. The reporter went to a hotel in Longgang District designated for the quarantine of passengers entering the country via Hong Kong last week.
A staffer wearing a hazmat suit was seen transporting a garbage bin out of the hotel lobby to a room identified as “Pollution Zone.” The room is built temporarily to store medical wastes.
After the transport, the staffer first sprays disinfectants to his body and then to the garbage bin before entering a cleaning area located beside the room.
“The medical waste produced in the hotel has also been included in a centralized management so as to avoid secondary pollution,” said Zeng Zhaojian, a staffer of Longgang Sanitation Supervision Center.
It is said that the hotel produces nearly 200 kilograms of medical wastes a day, which is collected by special institutions for further handling.
Shenzhen Yisheng Environmental Protection Technology Co. Ltd. was designated to collect, transport and dispose of medical wastes. A waste carrier from the company, surnamed Fang, said that they worked from 6 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. every day to collect and transport medical wastes from designated hotels, community health centers and clinics.
According to Xu Hao, a staffer with Yisheng who is responsible for garbage collection at Longgang’s Dayun area, the whole process is supervised by the Shenzhen Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau.
After the transportation, medical wastes finally arrive at Shenzhen Medical Waste Centralized Disposal Center for full incineration. The wastes will be incinerated at varying temperatures from 600 to 1,200 degrees Celsius.