And critical sectors like waste management have been working tirelessly on the frontlines during this crisis. In a Webinar organised by Waste & Recycling Middle East and Africa, and moderated by Swaliha Shanavas, industry expert Eddie Hanekom, Director-Waste Management, Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning, Western Cape Government, South Africa shared his views and insights from the response of the waste management sector in Western Cape to COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

In a matter of months, COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all countries around the globe, and it is a challenging period especially for the waste management sector, which is an essential service and the industry employees are among those working on the frontlines across the globe. At such a crucial time it becomes more important for waste management service providers to stringently follow the right procedures and take necessary precautionary measures to deal with the waste in a proper manner, to ensure the safety of the community and the personnel working in this field.

In our webinar, we explored the various issues involved in this area, and the waste management sector’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa (SA). Key aspects covered included the recent developments in the country, risks and challenges faced the coronavirus pandemic, regulations and guidelines, health and safety measures, awareness and coordination issues, and best practice. Following are excerpts from the knowledge sharing session.

Swaliha Shanavas (SS): Could you please touch upon the major developments in South Africa in the context of COVID-19 pandemic?

Eddie Hanekom (EH): It is one of the greatest disasters of our time that we have been dealing with. And to deal with this type of disaster there is no handbook that tells us how to do it. So, we are finding out ways as we practically handle the situation. Luckily, there is a lot of information sharing online and goodwill amongst countries. In December, when we heard about the Covid-19 disease in Wuhan, China, we thought it was very far and could never affect us. When we got to know that there were a lot of South Africans that work or study in Wuhan and the government was trying to get them back and saw this in the media, we started to realise that we would also be affected.

In March, we started having the first cases, and our forward-thinking President declared a state of disaster on 15th March. And then they brought in international and domestic travel restrictions on 18th March. Very quickly the President instituted a national lockdown on March 17, initially for 21 days. It was further extended till 30th April after a lot of consultation with all the relevant institutions. Based on the situation at the end of April, we will decide on the next step. To enforce the lockdown, they applied the Gazette Regulations under the Disaster Management Act, and at present only essential services continue to function.

SS: What is the significance of waste management and what are the risks and challenges faced in the light of the pandemic?

EH: Effective waste management services are crucial to the management and containment of the spread of the coronavirus. And they say that waste personnel come just second in line after the healthcare personnel. Initially, when the lockdown started, people were not sure as to how they should proceed, and we had to remove that fear. So, we said it was business as usual, but now with the added risk of the waste from COVID-19.

For the first time, we had to designate our staff as essential workers, and had to work from home. None of us were prepared for this situation and we also had to set up the infrastructure and systems to work from home, ensuring that everyone has access to the internet and necessary equipment. We also had to make sure that there were good clear lines of communication and coordination.

In addition, we had to protect our workers and the informal workers, which is quite an important task. In SA, we have a lot of informal salvagers who play quite a crucial role. But because of the infection risk, they cannot function. So, we had to do risk assessments to protect our waste workers too.

Since the whole world is suffering, suddenly the availability of PPE becomes a problem, and we had to do a lot of things to ensure our waste workers and our staff have access to that. The government has done great work here and started purchasing this equipment, and at this stage I can say that all the waste workers in Western Cape have access to appropriate PPE.

Moreover, to deal with the COVID-19 infected waste we had to learn about the virus, the infection risk, and because it is seen as healthcare risk waste, there is the cost of removal as well. Due to existing financial constraints, there was a need to do risk assessments and find practical and more affordable ways to deal with it. A major problem is that in SA the strict confidentiality about the patients is seen as important. It would be much easier if we could identify the households affected by the coronavirus, so we can isolate these households and take specific measures as required. Now it’s a bit difficult, but we are trying hard and working with the local municipalities and joint operational centres, and sometimes they share information with certain people to make it easier to handle the waste in affected households.

SS: So, what are the waste management Guidelines that have been introduced in Western Cape to deal with the current situation?

EH: We have a very good working relationship between the different spheres of government in SA including local, provincial and national. All these departments have certain executive powers and we have been liaising with these departments and also with other countries to learn from these nations, institutions and associations. We then started shaping what we required for SA and developed the waste management guidelines for Western Cape. We adopted the environmental health guidelines from national Department of Health regarding the handling of isolation and infectious waste, and also worked with healthcare facilities.

As the pandemic progressed, they had to do a lot of community testing and also set up isolation and quarantine facilities, which are different from hospitals. So, we had to do risk assessment and are now in the process of developing guidelines for managing healthcare risk waste from isolation and quarantine sites. Western Cape also has a good healthcare waste legislation. Of course, one has to ensure that waste collection will be continuously delivered to all.

With regard to waste from households with coronavirus cases, we followed a risk based approach. We looked at how long the virus lives on various surfaces and referred many reliable information sources.

Then we decided on a precautionary approach and were quite confident that if you place this waste for five days outside in the sun, the virus will perish. Specifically, for waste from households with coronavirus cases, we stressed on a protocol informing all the municipalities that they have to designate waste workers as essential workers; Ensure waste is disposed of securely in disposable plastic bags; When full, the plastic bag should then be placed in a second bin bag and tied; Bags should be stored separately for five days outside in the sun before being put out for collection by the municipality; No separation at source at affected households, and capacitate households on disposal practice; Collection personnel should be made aware of the risks associated with working with COVID-19 waste and should be provided the appropriate personal protective equipment.

SS: Could you please tell us about the specific health & safety measures in place for the waste workers?

EH: It is crucial that these frontline workers are protected, so there is strict adherence to enhanced hygiene norms, which includes frequent change and cleaning of PPE. Personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and overalls (disposable) is a must and uniforms should be changed or cleaned daily. They must be trained to wear PPE in a proper manner.

In SA, social distancing practices are very important and should be applied at all places of work including the changing rooms; Direct contact (without gloves) with bins or bags should be avoided; Disinfectants and hand sanitizers should be made available in each and every vehicle; Frequent hand-washing and increased cleaning in workers’ facilities is a must; and the driver’s cab of vehicles destined for the collection of municipal waste have to be sanitised and disinfected after each work cycle.

SS: Is there enough capacity to dispose of the healthcare and household waste including COVID-19 waste?

EH: We conducted the risk assessment and there is enough capacity to dispose of waste from households and COVID-19 households. At present, there are two incinerators, and we also have an autoclave and an electro thermal deactivation plant.

But we also planned for eventualities with a plan B in place. We will look at disposing of the untreated healthcare risk waste (HCRW) in high hazardous waste disposal facilities in SA, but that is only if or when the pandemic worsens and we run out of space in existing facilities, which are strictly monitored. We hope it doesn’t get worse, but if it does, the untreated waste will be disposed of at Class B waste disposal sites with conditions; and our last option would be to consider the use of approved cement kilns to incinerate the HCRW.

SS: Of course, when communities are involved, awareness becomes key, as there are many awareness and coordination issues related to proper waste collection and treatment. What are the measures you have in place to help improve efficiencies?

EH: It is a very important aspect. You need to understand that people are very scared at this stage. As I said, we can only go to the shops to buy essential supplies, and people are so scared they don’t even greet you as they walk down an aisle and move ahead quickly to avoid any interaction. We have to ensure they trust the government, and show we are confident and will protect them. We’ve started a lot of community awareness initiatives sharing information with them, instructing and educating the waste personnel on handling the bins and waste in a proper manner, hand washing, type of masks to use and improve all round efficiencies.

We also requested all the municipalities to work with us and shared all necessary information on measures required to ensure people are safe. In Western Cape, there are five district municipalities and 25 local municipalities that operate within district municipalities. At this stage everyone is doing their part, but I would like to highlight as best practice the case of Garden Route District Municipality, where they have fantastic coordination between disaster management personnel, health department, environmental services, waste managers and local municipalities. And when it all started they were quick to act and it’s an example of how you can convey to residents in a practical manner as to how they should handle the waste.

SS: I believe this situation presents an opportunity to raise the bar in waste management overall. Would you agree?

EH: Absolutely. In Western Cape, we’d had a lot of crisis situations and we worked together in these circumstances. I do agree that we must use this crisis to improve operations. A key aspect is coordination between authorities in these situations. So, we created a WhatsApp group between waste managers to quickly share information, any challenge or best practice. We’ve become quite conversant in using online technology and conduct weekly online meetings with waste managers and environmental health practitioners (EHPs) in Districts to ensure coordination and help deal with challenges. We’re pushing the level of coordination in Districts between municipal waste managers, EHPs and District Joint Operation Centres.

Just remember that waste management is a system. So it is not enough to just have the infrastructure and one must not look at the treatment facility alone. It is important to consider the lifecycle, have everything in place like collection systems, transfer stations, etc. One needs to know how the waste is generated, how it is collected, transported and treated.