The Ministry of the Environment has published recommendations for companies, authorities and health care facilities on how to include waste from disposable protective equipment currently generated in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic in the Waste Catalogue. The key is to distinguish between workplaces with no risk of infection, and those where a risk of infection can be anticipated.
In the context of the current epidemic, protective personal equipment such as respirators, respirators and goggles are being used more extensively in various types of establishments and facilities.
Due to frequent questions regarding the classification of these protective equipment according to the Waste Catalogue, the Ministry of the Environment publishes recommendations on what the options are in terms of waste management legislation. The full text of the recommendation can be found here (PDF, 134 kB )
Workplace without risk of infection
Typically these are administrative activities, offices, shops or tradesmen without risk of infection. Wastes from personal protective equipment are classified under Waste Catalogue number 20 03 01 - Mixed municipal waste.
Handling of personal protective equipment:
- put in a plastic container (bag, sack)
- put in another plastic container (bag)
- tie tightly
- treat the surface of the outer packaging with a disinfectant
- deposit in a mixed municipal waste collection container
- never put outside the collection container
- prevent access to the waste by unauthorised persons.
Industrial enterprises without risk of infection
Wastes from personal protective equipment are classified according to the Waste Catalogue as 15 02 03 - Absorbents, filter materials, cleaning cloths and protective clothing (other waste)
Handling of personal protective equipment:
- put in a plastic container (bag, sack)
- put in another plastic container (bag)
- tie tightly
- treat the surface of the outer packaging with a disinfectant
- deposit it in the appropriate collection container or in a designated place
- dispose of in a waste management facility
- prevent access to the waste by unauthorised persons
Workplaces at risk of infection
Used disposable protective equipment must be considered hazardous waste and its management is governed by the general rules for infectious waste management.
Wastes from personal protective equipment are classified according to the Waste Catalogue as 15 02 02* - Absorbents, filter materials (including oil filters not otherwise specified), cleaning cloths and protective clothing contaminated with hazardous substances (HP 9 - infectivity)
Handling of personal protective equipment:
- Place securely in labelled, separate, covered, sealable, leak-proof and mechanically resistant containers, preferably incinerable without the need for further handling.
- The waste generator is obliged to provide safe packaging for hazardous waste
- Unwrapped waste or waste stored in damaged packaging should not be accepted from the waste producer by workers transporting the waste to the final disposal facility for their own safety and for the protection of their health and that of the workers at the disposal facility
- Infectious waste must be disposed of immediately in a hazardous waste incinerator
- Infectious waste must be disposed of immediately in a hazardous waste incinerator
Health care and similar facilities
Wastes from personal protective equipment are classified according to the Waste Catalogue under 18 01 03* - Wastes for the collection and disposal of which special requirements are imposed with regard to the prevention of infection (HP 9 - infectivity).
Specific management of waste from healthcare and similar facilities
- The specific conditions for the management of infectious waste in health care and similar facilities and the method of its disposal are laid down in the operating rules of the health care facility and the operating rules of the waste management facility
- To treat highly infectious waste immediately following its generation by decontamination with certified technological equipment (equipment with validated decontamination technology with proven efficiency)
- Immediate disposal in a hazardous waste incinerator
The correct procedures for infectious waste management are set out in the Certified Methodology for the Management of Waste from Medical, Veterinary and Similar Facilities, which is published on the websites of the HSE and the Ministry of the Environment. The methodology has been certified by the MoE.
source: mzp.cz
