Used Needles, Masks, Plastic: Why India Will Need Smart Strategies to Manage Waste in Post-Covid19 World

In the future, our waste management will need more mechanisation and automation to reduce human contact. A higher level of mechanisation in waste management will have to span from waste collection to treatment. We will also require fully automated material recovery units and organic waste management plants with better machine learning and robotic applications, efficient enough to avoid carbon emission burden on cities, thereby reducing climate change impact. We might have to make our cities even smarter with electric vehicles for waste collection and handling, and using the energy derived from renewable energy stations. There is an encouraging demand for more focus on research and development in areas of waste management after the COVID-19 pandemic.