Improper recycling increases spread of COVID-19
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the percentage of medical waste has increased by 40% worldwide, according to the WHO. If a person changes their face mask every two hours as recommended, it will come out to almost 1,500 masks per year. And that's just for one person. Every day the same amount of hazardous medical waste comes from clinics and hospitals. This waste is highly infectious and should be incinerated. However, more and more often it is illegally dumped in rivers, fields, or simply thrown into roadside dumpsters.
Omar sorts waste at a landfill in Bangladesh. He used to have another job but that money wasn't enough to feed his family. Omar has always risked catching a disease as he spent days rummaging through mounds of garbage. Now he has to deal with highly infectious COVID-related waste. Is there any way to make Omar's job safer?