Collection and transportation system construction of potentially viral municipal solid waste during the COVID-19 pandemic in China

The transmission route of COVID-19 through municipal solid waste (MSW) has been confirmed and receives increasing attention. Potentially viral municipal solid waste (PVMSW) refers to the domestic waste generated by risky areas and epidemic-related populations under a major epidemic in their daily lives or in activities that provide services for their daily lives. For its potential infectivity, PVMSW should be properly collected and transported. This study aimed to standardize the collection and transportation of PVMSW and proposed specific construction schemes of PVMSW collection and transportation systems for three situations which were city-wide lockdown status, medium and high-risk area, and home quarantine separately. In the cases of city-wide lockdown status and home quarantine, PVMSW collection and transportation systems were constructed qualitatively with the examples of Wuhan and Shanghai respectively, and in the case of medium and high-risk area, the systems were constructed quantitatively through the development of a waste collection and transportation costs model. To reduce the risks of virus transmission during the collection and transportation process, the collection and transportation links should be minimized. For the disposal of PVMSW, medical waste treatment facilities and MSW incineration plants should be prioritized. Furthermore, the results showed that the total number of people and the transfer capacity of MSW transfer facility were the two main influencing factors for the selection of PVMSW collection and transportation systems in medium and high-risk area. This article could help manage MSW for preventing virus transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic or similar future epidemics.