Wuhan's Medical Waste Disposal Remains Timely, Environmentally Friendly

Workers collect medical waste from a makeshift hospital set up at the Wuhan Sports Center in Hubei province. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily]

Wuhan, Central China Hubei province, is now able to dispose all medical waste in a timely fashion and has not posed any threat to the environment, a senior official said on on March 11.

Zhao Qunying, director of the emergency management office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, told a news conference in Beijing by Monday, the city's disposal capacity of medical waste has jumped from 50 to 264 metric tons per day.

"All the medical waste can be disposed of on the day of creation," he said.

Wuhan was able to handle more than 40 tons of medical waste before the epidemic outbreak. But after the novel coronavirus hit the city, medical waste produced peaked at more than 240 tons a day.

In order to dispose of medical waste promptly and avoid pileup of waste, the ministry has requisitioned and transported 46 sets of mobilized disposal facilities to Wuhan.

It also oversaw the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, a State-owned enterprise dedicated to environmental protection, to complete the construction of a new disposal center in the city with a daily disposal capacity of 300,000 tons, according to Zhao.