Assessment of Site Selection Criteria for Medical Waste during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 virus has affected the whole world, causing it to be declared a pandemic. To prevent the spread of the virus, the use of medical products such as masks and disinfectants was encouraged and even mandatory in some places. This situation makes the waste of medical products used a threat to public health. It becomes an important decision where to depot the used medical products before disposal due to the risk of containing the virus. There are many criteria to consider during the selection of a site. This study includes the evaluation of criteria for the selection of pre-disposal temporary landfill site for medicinal products in Turkey. Eight criteria were determined to be used in the selection of these sites. The weights of the criteria were calculated using the fuzzy Pivot Pairwise Relative Criteria Importance Assessment (PIPRECIA) method, which is a multi-criteria decision making method. According to the results, it was concluded that the most important evaluation criterion was distance to residential areas. The results of this study are aimed to contribute to the management of medical waste.