More and more people are in quarantine or fiduciary isolation. How to deal with waste and more generally with recycling?
More and more people are in quarantine or in fiduciary isolation. Many are wondering how to deal with waste and more generally with recycling. Unfortunately, there are no national rules, and not even updated to the new protocols, but for proper waste management we can refer to the indications issued by the Ministry of Health at the beginning of the pandemic.
No one has given new indications, there is a void in waste management that involves many people today in fiduciary isolation and quarantine.
We specify that those in quarantine or isolation cannot go out to throw the garbage under the house (or even to bring the dog). The anti-Covid security measures do not provide for exceptions, even if the subject in question is negative for the swab or asymptomatic.
The management of waste (and of the dog) can be delegated to cohabitants, who do not have the obligation to quarantine. But there remains the question of what to do for those who live alone. Can you contact a neighbor? Better to contact your municipality for precise information.
Difference between quarantine and fiduciary isolation
The new Circular of the Ministry of Health of 12 October 2020 updates the indications regarding the duration and term of isolation and quarantine, in consideration of the evolution of the epidemiological situation. The circular clarifies that:
- isolation of cases of documented SARS-CoV-2 infection refer to the separation of infected people from the rest of the community for the duration of the contagious period;
- la quarantineinstead, it refers to the restriction of the movement of healthy people for the duration of the incubation period, but who may have been exposed to an infectious agent or a contagious disease.
As a result, quarantine affects healthy people who have come in contact with a positive and could potentially be exposed to infectious risk, while fiduciary isolation concerns confirmed cases of Covid-19 (swab positive), who must separate from the community. and avoid in all ways the transmission of the infection.
Covid-19: what should i do if i come in contact with a positive? The indications of the ministry
In principle, the rules made known by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità apply, which has created a guide on how to manage such waste, distinguishing who is in home isolation because he tested positive for coronavirus or who is in mandatory quarantine.
Covid-19: what should i do if i come in contact with a positive? The indications of the ministry
How to collect and dispose of handkerchiefs, masks and household waste in the time of the Coronavirus. The Councils of the Ministry
The Ministry of Health had also provided indications, which contemplated only two cases: the positives or in compulsory quarantine and the non-positives and not in quarantine:
By the ISS Group "New Coronavirus Communication"
But what happens if you are in quarantine for 10 days?
A question that many are asking and to which the Municipalities are responding in very different ways. Although the protocols for quarantine have changed, there are no updates regarding waste collection.
The only information is that dating back to March and April.
© Campania Region
As recommended by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), separate collection and all household waste must be stopped in homes where positive swab subjects are present, in isolation or in mandatory quarantine, including paper handkerchiefs, paper in rolls, disposable towels, masks and gloves, which must be treated as unsorted waste and therefore collected and delivered together.
Also in Lazio, a specific regional ordinance has made it known that during the period of isolation and quarantine the separate collection must be interrupted and
“And enclose all household waste produced, jointly, in at least two bags placed one inside the other (or more depending on their mechanical strength), suitably closed. "
I am in isolation because positive, what do I do?
In these cases, the waste must not be separated, but must be thrown all together and closed in two or three resistant bags (one inside the other) in the unsorted waste container.
I'm not in quarantine, what do I do?
If, on the other hand, you are not positive or in quarantine, the separate collection continues as always, using the foresight to dispose of the paper handkerchiefs, masks and disposable gloves (of any material) in the unsorted collection, closing everything in two or three resistant bags (one inside the other), as the ISS explains.
I'm in quarantine, what do I do?
According to the new indications, if you have been in contact with a positive person, you will have to remain in isolation at home for 10 days, at the end of which you will be subjected to the swab. In case of a negative result, the isolation will be concluded. In this case, however, for at least 10 days it will not be known whether or not one is positive for Covid, so how should one deal with waste?
Even if the casuistry is not contemplated by the regions, common sense invites us to advise you to act as imposed on those who are positive for the coronavirus since it will not be possible to know for sure until the swabs are carried out. Consequently, you will have to throw the waste in the undifferentiated and follow the instructions of your municipality in this regard.
Unfortunately, all this will result in a sad increase in undifferentiated, which is added to the boom in masks, gloves and PPE, which have now become a real environmental scourge, with which we are already dealing.
Sources of reference: Circular of the Ministry of Health, Iss, Tuscany Region, Campania Region, Lombardy Region, Ama Roma
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