Reverse logistics network design for medical waste management in the epidemic outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2020-12, Vol.746, p.141183-141183, Article 141183
• Main Authors: Kargar, Saeed, Pourmehdi, Mohammad, Paydar, Mohammad Mahdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Infections; COVID-19; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Fuzzy Goal Programming; Infectious disease; Iran; Medical Waste; Multi-objective; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Reverse supply chain; SARS-CoV-2; Waste Management
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141183

The recent pandemic triggered by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus boosted the demand for medical services and protective equipment, causing the generation rate of infectious medical waste (IMW) to increase rapidly. Designing an efficient and reliable IMW reverse logistics network in this situation can help to control the spread of the virus. Studies on this issue are limited, and minimization of costs and the risks associated with the operations of this network consisting of different types of medical waste generation centers (MWGC) are rarely considered. In this research, a linear programming model with three objective functions is developed to minimize the total costs, the risk associated with the transportation and treatment of IMW, and the maximum amount of uncollected waste in MWGCs. Also, multiple functions that calculate the amount of generated waste according to the parameters of the current epidemic outbreak are proposed. Revised Multi-Choice Goal Programming method is employed to solve the multi-objective model, and a real case study from Iran is examined to illustrate the validation of the proposed model. The final results show that the model can create a balance between three considered objectives by determining the flow between centers, deciding to install two new temporary treatment centers, and allowing the network to only have uncollected waste in the first two periods in some MWGCs. Also, managerial insights for health organization authorities extracted from the final results and sensitivity analyses are presented for adequately handling the IMW network. [Display omitted] •Proposing a model compatible with condition of epidemic outbreak or pandemic•Minimizing cost and risk of handling infectious medical waste in epidemic outbreak•Minimizing the maximum uncollected waste in medical waste generation centers•Designed functions that calculate amounts of waste based on parameters of the virus•Considering all potential centers that generate infectious medical waste