Is the pandemic masking waste management? – A review on fallout of the COVID-19 viral contagion

The global outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has spurred a reassessment of Municipal Solid Waste management strategies and approaches. A significant need for sanitation and hygiene was accentuated for disease prevention and control with the onset of the pandemic. With an alteration of the status quo in waste management system, an unprecedented amount of face masks, protective equipment, and other biological wastes was generated in the form of Municipal Solid Waste . This upsurge of potentially infected wastes originated a risk of transmission amongst frontline workers. Furthermore, the potential contamination of Municipal Solid Waste was rendered as a legitimate threat due to improper collection practices, disposal and handling of solid waste. Several novel waste disposal techniques and waste management policies were also introduced during this period. However, the sanitation-policy making-occupational safety nexus remains inadequately explored under the prevalent COVID-19 scenario. Through the prism of shifting waste composition, this review offers a global assessment of existing solid waste management systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The physiological and psychological hazards faced by the frontline workers were explored and instances of best-case and worst-case policies on solid waste handling were recorded. Modern methods of waste disposal and latest trends of policymaking were evaluated. A model study of unsupervised learning via Partition Around Medoids cluster analysis was undertaken to reveal underlying patterns of waste management policies. Although, the clusters were formed devoid of any socio-economic parameters, this study strives to indicate proof of concept and can serve as a precursor to advanced clustering studies.严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2）的全球大流行，推动了城市生活垃圾（Municipal Solid Waste）管理策略与方法的重新评估。疫情暴发伊始，疾病防控对环境卫生与个人卫生的迫切需求愈发凸显。随着生活垃圾管理体系的既有格局被颠覆，大量前所未有的口罩、防护装备及其他生物废弃物以城市生活垃圾的形式产生。此类潜在感染性废弃物的激增，为一线工作人员带来了病毒传播风险。此外，由于生活垃圾的收集、处置与处理操作不当，城市生活垃圾的潜在污染已成为一项切实存在的威胁。此期间亦催生了诸多新型生活垃圾处置技术与管理政策。然而在当前新冠疫情（COVID-19）大流行背景下，环境卫生-政策制定-职业安全三者间的关联仍未得到充分探究。本综述从垃圾组分变化的视角出发，对新冠疫情大流行期间全球现行的生活垃圾管理体系展开了全局性评估。研究探讨了一线工作人员所面临的生理与心理危害，并梳理了生活垃圾处理领域的最优与最差政策案例。同时对新型生活垃圾处置技术与政策制定的最新趋势进行了评析。本研究采用基于围绕中心点划分（Partition Around Medoids）聚类分析的无监督学习（unsupervised learning）模型，旨在挖掘生活垃圾管理政策的潜在模式。尽管本次聚类未纳入任何社会经济参数，但本研究旨在验证概念可行性，可为后续进阶聚类研究提供前期基础。