PPE Waste Generation During COVID-19 Pandemic in Guayaquil: Geospatial Distribution and Thermochemical Valorization

Millions of tons of polluted personal protective equipment, such as face masks, face shields, and gloves related to the COVID-19 disease, are becoming dangerous infectious waste. Suppose PPE is littered in the open environment, whether aquatic or terrestrial. It will most likely produce the blockage of sewages in towns and cities and could also percolate to water vessels and prevent the aeration of agricultural land. Hence, the quantification, geospatial spreading, and thermochemical valorization of personal protective equipment waste were performed for the city of Guayaquil. The overall daily face masks, pairs of gloves, and face protectors waste generation in the town reach 816,673.25 masks, 43,173.34 glove pairs, and 29,148.88 face protectors. Considering that the standard weight of one mask is 5 g on average, this number of face masks turns into approximately four tons of waste daily (1.5 thousand tons yearly). Three-ply surgical disposal (3PFM) is the most wasted for face masks, accounting for 52.31%, followed by KN/FPP masks with 15.36%. 3PFM is primarily wasted in El Fortin, La Florida, Trinitaria, and Guasmo neighborhoods, all urban-marginal of the city. Finally, when talking about final disposition, incineration is preferred over landfilling. Given that the vast majority of thermal electricity production plants are based on the combustion of fuels, whether liquid or solid, this is the most immediate solution for the PPE waste problem.