Rospotrebnadzor Urged To Suspend Separate Waste Collection Due To COVID-19

Rospotrebnadzor urged to suspend separate waste collection due to COVID-19

This is due to the risk of contamination of personnel when sorting waste with which people infected with coronavirus interacted.

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The agency recommends that Russians give up this healthy habit during a pandemic.

As RIA Novosti reports with reference to Rospotrebnadzor, due to the treatment of patients with mild forms of coronavirus at home, any recycled item can be potentially contaminated.

“When processing recyclable materials, as well as sorting mixed waste, there is a risk of infection of the company's personnel and contamination of the production environment. During a pandemic of coronavirus infection, it is recommended to suspend separate waste collection,”the ministry said.

At the same time, the virus is unstable in the environment and dies after three days, therefore, with careful packaging of waste, the virus will die in three days and will not cause damage.

Earlier, Ulyana Bashtanova, a senior researcher at the Faculty of Chemistry at Cambridge University, wrote detailed recommendations on how to organize a home life if a family member has a coronavirus infection or has characteristic symptoms. The expert drew attention to the fact that in England the collection of garbage from patients with COVID-19 takes place separately from the main garbage.

“In any case, the garbage should be very tightly packed and tied up when you throw it away. Garbage is a source of infection both for you and for other people,”Bashtanova said.