POSITION PAPER

Committee: UNEP
Country/Allotment: JAPAN
Agenda: The Disposal and Adverse Repercussions of Covid-19 generated bio-medical waste on the Ecosystem
1. Topic Background
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted all aspects of all our lives intensively. A major contributor
to the degradation of the environment was the deleterious disposal of bio-medical waste generated by COVID-
19. The issue is not the increase in the waste but the improper disposal of the waste. This biowaste is hazardous
and if improperly disposed, it could lead to severe disease outbreaks all over the world. The new addition is of
Personal-Protective-Equipment (PPE), they are protective suits which protect the person from infections by
biohazards or particulate matter. They are a product of single-use-plastic material, whose accumulation is
observed on streets and even ocean floors. This is known as “PPE Pollution” Other wastes such as bandages and
gloves, discarded syringes and needles, infusion kits, facemasks, surgical instruments, face masks, gloves,
syringes and gloves to be disposed has increased, owing to the pandemic. A report by the World Wide Fund for
Nature has approximated the quantity of masks and gloves that may end up in oceans. "If even only 1 per cent of
the masks were disposed of incorrectly and perhaps dispersed in nature this would result in 10 million masks per
month dispersed in the environment causing plastic lying in landfills or river floors. Thus, leading to groundwater
pollution or riverine pollution.”i During April 2020 alone, 14,500 tonnes of Covid-related biomedical waste was
generated in Bangladesh. Lack of adequate training and guidance among those informal workers collecting the
waste led to roughly 40,000 such individuals being at direct risk of contracting the virus. ii Even under normal
circumstances, estimates state that roughly 5.2 million people die annually due to the improper management and
disposal of biomedical waste.iii
2. Past International Actions
A. In 2019, Japan contributed US$1.94 million to the Environment Fund in helping countries deliver the
Sustainable Development Goals. In May 2020, Japan will contribute US$6.9 million to four UNEP-
led projects-: (a) Counter MEASURE project (b) MARINE Initiative (c) International Environmental
Technology Centre which (d) Conflict debris management in Iraq.iv For reducing plastic pollution in
Asia major rivers, supporting research into how to manage, treat plastic waste and deploy digital
platform throughout Asia to support environmentally sound management of plastic waste.
B. Model city in Japan is helping Asian cities go green- Kitakyushu, the first “Eco Town in Japan” that
also received the UN Environment Programme’s Global 500 award because of their talented
expertise. Kitakyushu city officials have been taking their hard-earned expertise to other cities around
Asia and the Pacific. Kitakyushu has implemented more than 192 projects in waste management,
waste treatment, pollution control in 78 cities across 16 countries. A new cooperation agreement
between the city and UN Environment will support local governments in Thailand and Cambodia to
implement effective waste management plans. v
C. Prevent mercury tragedy- Mercury is used in a wide variety of applications and finds its way into the
environment through industrial emissions. It can be accumulated by some species that are eaten by
 humans. Approximately half of the global mercury consumption and emissions occur in Asia and the
Pacific. Japan’s MOE and UNEP announced a project to protect the environment and human health
from adverse impacts of mercury. Up to $3 million allotted to the project, which helps in establishing
a regional mercury monitoring laboratory network in Asia and the Pacific and provide for capacity
building and training for countries around the region to reduce global mercury pollution.vi
3. Country Policy
A. Implementation of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle)- In 2000, the Basic Act for Establishing a Sound
Material-Cycle Society was enacted to promote the establishment of a sound material-cycle society
designed to ensure the implementation of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle). vii The Japanese Waste
Disposal and Public Cleansing Law that classifies waste materials as industrial or general waste.
Waste which is infectious and hazardous comes under industrial waste and others come under general
wastes.viii In Japan, local governments and waste management service providers have emphasized
continuity of proper MSW management service including the development of contingency plans,
preparation of necessary PPE for waste management workers, as well as outreach and training
activities for citizens and major waste generators. Japanese citizens are given guides on how to sort
their garbage. These guides are about 27 pages long and specify how to sort over 500 items into
different categories in which procedure to dispose wastes in different bins is written. Each bin is
coloured based on the type of waste labels for blood and body fluids are red, solid materials are orange,
and sharp objects are yellow. Secondly, all infectious waste materials are segregated from other wastes
in special storage areas to prevent the spread of infection in medical institutions.
B. Private Contractor- The management of infectious waste materials was regulated in 2004 under the
Waste Disposal Law of 2003. The disposal practice from medical institutions, a medical institution
contracts with specified businesses that are authorized by a prefectural government for collecting,
transporting and incinerating infectious waste materials. Waste materials disposed of from medical
institutions are not collected and transported by the municipal governments, and a medical institution
is responsible for the associated expense. Each medical institution, therefore, must contract a specified
business authorized by a prefectural government for the treatment of infectious waste, and disposal
cost.ix This makes the waste disposal fast and more effective.
Only about one-eighth (12.5 per cent) of the waste generated in Tokyo goes to the landfills, while the rest
is incinerated. Tokyo, a city with a population of over 13.5 million, generated just 2.7 million tonnes of
waste in 2014, down from 4.9 million in 1989. A key to efficient processing of garbage though is the
meticulous sorting of garbage and giving contracts to private parties.x
4. Possible Solutions
A. Multi Benefit Mobility System -The mobility system is used in Japan for waste disposal and
segregation. It should be used in all over the world with the help of the expertise of Japan and
cooperation of UNEP. In this system the vehicle is capable of self-driving or remote control in the
following three modes (a) self-driving by drone GPS location information, (b) self-driving by image
 recognition of a stereo camera, (c) remote control by the controller. This mobility as a "moving trash
bin” can be used for automatic garbage collection. xi
B. How to enforce policies is main issue - According to the above information, the issue with many
developing countries is in not only developing policies and issuing guidance, but also how to enforce
them after preparation. A national healthcare waste management policy is thus required to drive
political decision making and mobilize government efforts and resources for successful
implementation of the plans.
C. This virus is new for the world and because of its highly infectious nature, there is need to use different
procedures for waste management. And it is also necessary that the citizens of the country are also
aware with these procedures so there is need of more virtual awareness and training programmes for
the waste management.
5. Sources

i
Saikiran Kannan, How Covid-19 renews the world's plastic problem, India Today, https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/how-covid-
19-renews-the-world-s-plastic-problem-1683786-2020-05-30
ii
Mehedi Al Amin, Covid-19: 14,500 tons waste generated, waste collector halved in a month, Dhaka Tribune (May 10, 2020),
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2020/05/10/covid-19-14-500-tons-waste-generated-waste-collector-halved-in-a-month.
iii
Sadia Ilyas, Disinfection technology and strategies for COVID-19 hospital and bio-medical waste management, Sci Total Environ ,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7419320/
iv
Japan UNEP deepen cooperation on plastic pollution and post-conflict recovery, UNEP, https://www.unep.org/news-and-
stories/press-release/japan-and-un-environment-announce-new-cooperation-boost-knowledge.
v
Model city in Japan is helping Asian cities go green, UNEP, https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/model-city-japan-helping-
asian-cities-go-green.
vi
Japan and UN Environment announce new efforts to prevent mercury tragedy, UNEP, https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-
release/japan-and-un-environment-announce-new-efforts-prevent-mercury
vii
History and Current State of Waste Management in Japan, MOE, https://www.env.go.jp/en/recycle/smcs/attach/hcswm.pdf.
viii
Yukihiro Ikeda, Current Status of Home Medical Care Waste Collection by Nurses in Japan, TandfondLine,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10962247.2016.1228551.
ix
M. Miyazaki and H. Une, Infectious waste management in Japan: A revised regulation and a management process in medical
institutions, Waste Management, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7127074/.
x
Swapna Merlin, The Japanese model of garbage disposal holds valuable lessons for India, The Print, https://theprint.in/theprint-
essential/the-japanese-model-of-garbage-disposal-holds-valuable-lessons-for-india/48877/.
xi
Hiroshi Onoda, Smart approaches to waste management for post-COVID-19 smart cities in Japan, ResearchGate,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342208779_Smart_approaches_to_waste_management_for_post-COVID-
19_smart_cities_in_Japan.