Issue: № 11/3, 2020
Doi: https://doi.org/10.37634/efp.2020.11(3).1
The paper is devoted to the problem of medical waste disposal, namely personal protective equipment. The authors point out that the spread of acute respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV–2 is not only a direct threat to human life and health, but also indirectly affects the environment of Ukraine. The paper notes that the disposal of personal protective equipment attracted attention only after the beginning of the pandemic, because their use by humans began in too large quantities. The paper also states that as a result of such use, a significant amount of hazardous waste is generated, which is not properly disposed of by companies that have the appropriate license and special equipment. The authors emphasize that there are gaps in the legal regulation of the treatment of personal protective equipment, as clear regulations are available only for PPE used by medical institutions. As for the protective equipment used by infected people in the home and referred by the legislator to the group of ordinary solid household waste, there are provisions for them only of a recommendatory nature. Therefore, their implementation will be provided only by conscious citizens, but we know that there are fewer of them in our country. The paper states that despite the established legal responsibility for health care institutions and licensees for non-compliance with regulations, which are clearly regulated by the legislation of Ukraine, the state does not adopt any effective mechanisms of influence to avoid their negative manifestations. The authors also note that in Ukraine, due to the lack of legal regulation of the treatment of PPE in everyday life, as a result, all of them are not disposed of properly and sent to regular landfills. Therefore, we propose ways to solve this problem, namely: to amend the Law “On Waste” and adopt a new bylaw to implement this law; create special containers to be used outside healthcare facilities.
Keywords : ecological safety, personal protective equipment, medical waste, solid household waste
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