Microbiome analysis of medical mask waste as an early step to prevent environmental pollution due to unstandardized waste treatment strategies

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a large amount of medical mask waste to be buried in the environment. Medical masks are one of the categories of B3 waste that should require a special treatment process. In fact, in the current pandemic conditions, medical mask waste can be found along with household waste without special treatment and separation. Medical masks have the potential to contain pathogenic microbial populations that attack the human respiratory system. On the other hand, microbes themselves are a group of organisms that are susceptible to mutation. Management of medical mask waste that does not comply with B3 waste management standards will have an impact on the emergence of new problems in the future. The purpose of this study was to identify the distribution of microorganism populations in mask waste samples taken randomly from household waste disposal sites. The medical mask waste sample will then be isolated and identified to determine the medical mask waste sample’s microbiome variations. Based on the research results, it was found that 47% of the microorganisms detected were coliform microorganisms, 20% of other organisms were unidentified microorganisms, and the remaining 33% were pathogenic microorganisms.