A novel cooperative model in the collection of infectious waste in COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose Production of waste has been increased exponentially due to world industrialization and urban and machine life expansion. On the other hand, the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus quickly became a global crisis. This crisis has added a large amount of waste to urban waste. The purpose of this study is to create cooperation between municipal waste collector contractors. Design/methodology/approach Thus, a mathematical model is proposed under uncertain conditions, which includes the volume of municipal waste and infectious waste including personal protective equipment and used equipment for patients. To reduce total costs, the results are evaluated with four cooperative game theory methods such as Shapley value, t value, core center and least core. Ultimately, the saved cost by cooperation in each coalition is allocated fairly among the contractors. Finally, a comparison was made between the solution methods based on the value of the objective function and the solution time. Findings The results indicate that the proposed cooperative method increases cost savings and reduces the fine of residual waste. Therefore, it can be mentioned that this kind of cooperation would finally result in more incentives for contractors to form larger coalitions. Genetic algorithms were used to solve the large-scale model. Originality/value The proposed model boosts the current understanding of waste management in the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper adds additional value by unveiling some key future research directions. This guidance may demonstrate possible existing and unexplored gaps so that researchers can direct future research to develop new processes.

Supplying Personal Protective Equipment to Intensive Care Units during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Colombia. A Simheuristic Approach Based on the Location-Routing Problem

“…Similarly, Valizadeh et al [32] studied waste collection management during the pandemic. To solve the problem the authors proposed a Benders decomposition method and generated stochastic scenarios of the outbreak for evaluating decision-making.…”

Use of Mathematical Approaches for Addressing COVID-19 Pandemic — a Critical Review

“…This strategy generates excellent results by taking food waste as an energy source, which makes it a great alternative, as long as there is an adequate waste management infrastructure in the region where it is implemented. Valizadeh and Mozafari (2021) proposed a mathematical model capable of operating under uncertain conditions such as the volume of infectious waste generated in a region, using an objective function that minimizes total costs. This strategy is based on a coalition between contractors that reduce losses of financial costs for poor waste management; this, in turn, encourages contractors to carry out larger coalitions that further reduce total costs.…”

“…The benefits are presented without the support of a mathematical model that quantifies how much the environmental impact is reduced Zhao and You (2021) The multi-objective solution allows not only to reduce the environmental impact but also to generate income by processing food waste to transform it into an alternative energy source It starts from the premise that there exists a good waste management infrastructure, ruling out its application in underdeveloped or developing regions Valizadeh and Mozafari (2021) The implementation of four methods based on game theory allows the decision-maker to have a greater panorama than depending on the conditions of each region where the model is applied The formulation is more complicated compared to previous strategies, and it is based on the assumption that there is adequate waste management, which only applies in certain regions Recommendation 6: Patients should not be prioritized for their medical condition over the role they play in the fight against COVID-19; for example, if a doctor who is on an equal footing with an individual who does not belong to the front line combat against COVID-19 (It is not a doctor) and both require respiratory assistance, under a scenario of scarce resources, it is recommended to give priority to the doctor, since in this way the number of lives and years of life saved is maximized.…”

Health concerns among waste collectors during pandemic crisis

“…The amount of online shopping and in-home cooking have increased sharply, which, in turn, have increased the amount of MSW (Yousefi et al 2021). The increased demand for plastic-packaged food and groceries and the heavy usage of disposable supplies have also dramatically raised the amount of MSW, especially of plastic waste (Valizadeh and Mozafari 2021). In addition, people who are infected of the virus require home isolation rather than hospitalization, which produces hazardous waste daily (Penteado and Marco 2021).…”

“…The source of MSW basically consists of household solid waste (HSW; Hussein Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2018), mainly including food, recyclable, and hazardous wastes and other solid waste (Wang et al 2018). The MSWM system is composed of many key processes, such as waste production, collection, transportation, management, and disposal, which are strongly linked with socioeconomic aspects (Valizadeh and Mozafari 2021). However, the world has commonly faced environmental problems concerning MSWM (Tasi et al 2020), especially in the most of the populous countries (Zolnikov et al 2018).…”