The management of healthcare plastic waste : a case study of surgical masks and antigen test kits | |
| Author | Natthapon Pornsrirutai |
| Call Number | AIT RSPR no.MPA-22-15 |
| Subject(s) | Plastic scrap--Management Healthcare Segregation Textile industry--Waste disposal--Environmental aspects--Thailand |
| Note | A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Marine Plastics Abatement |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Healthcare plastics waste is one of the major waste problems. During the COVID-19 situations, large numbers of mask wastes and antigen test kit wastes are generated every day. Most of the wasted are not segregated at source and nearly all of them ended up in landfill or in the ocean. Without proper management, the two healthcare wastes created serious environmental problems to the nature. Being thrown to the ocean, those plastics wastes were degraded to microplastic and flow into the marine ecosystem. This situation has enormous impact to the food chain of which human is the top consumer. In case the wastes are disposed to landfill, the toxic chemicals are believed to leak to the ground water system and create several environmental problems. To analyze the problem, a study group that consists of students and staff living inside AIT campus is selected for the study of healthcare waste management system. A number of questions are given to the survey respondents to obtain the information about the consumption, stocking, product knowledge and disposal behaviors of the two healthcare products. The number of mask waste generation is also projected in this research. Background research tells us that using fabric mask with filtration cause less environmental impact compared to the single use surgical masks and a number of biodegradable test kit has been invented recently to protect the environment from healthcare plastic waste. According to the sustainability pyramid, the best way to address the waste problems is to reduce the consumption. However, at the time this research is being conducted, the pandemic has not ended. The mask consumption is unavoidable. Therefore, this research focus on the reduction in improper disposal behaviors. We define using fabric masks and regular source segregation as the preferrable options. To find the ratio of people who take those preferrable choices, we divide the study group based on their environmental background and conduct hypothesis testing to find if there is any difference between people who are from different backgrounds. The results shown no difference between people who are from the environmental school and people who are from other fields either in consumption or disposal behavior terms. Both of the two groups share similar preferrable choice proportions. We also find out that, by overall, the two groups can generate as high as 17,000 pieces of face mask per year. In summary, this research recommends shifting from using single use mask to fabric mask consumption to reduce the number of masks wastes and look forward the availability of biodegradable test kits. |
| Year | 2022 |
| Type | Research Study Project Report (RSPR) |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Marine Plastic Abatement (MPA) |
| Chairperson(s) | Guerrero Cruz, Simon; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Xue, Wenchao;Tatchai Pussayanawin; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Japan; |
| Degree | Research studies project report (M.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2022 |