COVID-19 impacts on household solid waste generation in six Latin American countries: a participatory approach

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the Americas, the continent with the highest number of COVID-related deaths according to WHO statistics. In Latin America, strict confinement conditions at the beginning of the pandemic put recycling activity to a halt and augmented the consumption of plastic as a barrier to stop the spread of the virus. The lack of data to understand waste management dynamics complicates waste management strategy adjustments aimed at coping with COVID-19. As a novel contribution to the waste management data gap for Latin America, this study uses a virtual and participatory methodology that collects and generates information on household solid waste generation and composition. Data was collected between June and November 2021 in six countries in Latin America, with a total of 503 participants. Participants indicated that the pandemic motivated them to initiate or increase waste reduction (41%), waste separation (40%), and waste recovery (33%) activities. Forty-three percent of participants perceived an increase in total volume of their waste; however, the quantitative data showed a decrease in household waste generation in Peru (−31%), Honduras (−25%), and Venezuela (−82%). No changes in waste composition were observed. Despite the limited sample size, this data provides a much-needed approximation of household waste generation and composition in the pandemic situation during 2021. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10661-022-10771-9.

A Systematic Review of the Latest Research Trends on the Use of Satellite Imagery in Solid Waste Disposal Applications from 2012 to 2021

“…This may be related to the global spread of COVID-19 in 2020 and associated lockdowns. A considerable number of waste studies have focused on solid waste generation characteristics [3,111,112] and disposal behaviors [113][114][115] during the pandemic rather than selection and ranking of WDS.…”

Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on waste generation: Focus on plastic, food, and medical wastes in South Korea

“…A recent study by Urbańska et al [ 12 ] found that, at the national level, MSW amounts did not differ much from those of the pre-COVID-19 era. Requena-Sanchez et al [ 13 ] investigated household behaviors in six Latin American countries and found that participants in the study did not report major waste composition changes before or during the pandemic. In summary, numerous studies found that there was more plastic, food, and medical waste generated during the pandemic than there had been before COVID-19.…”