Demand surge, supply shortages complicate COVID-19 waste management
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The challenge: The COVID-19 pandemic instantly increased demand for some types of medical waste management, such as the disposal of personal protective equipment and testing supplies.
Waste management companies say they met that challenge last year, but it required a lot of flexibility.
A shortage of sharps containers, the plastic buckets in which clinicians throw away old syringes and vials, has made that harder.
Waste managers are also trying to predict the pandemic's long-term effects on medical waste management and reshape their companies to meet future needs.
The net effect: Stericycle, one of the country's largest medical waste management operators, reported that the pandemic slightly increased the demand for medical waste management.