During the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China (PRC), infectious medical waste increased by 600% from 40 tons per day to 240 tons per day. This quickly overwhelmed existing medical transport and disposal infrastructure around hospitals.

Other countries are likely to face similar challenges. It is critical that additional waste management systems are put in place to help reduce the further spread of COVID-19 and the emergence of other diseases.

Sean Wihera of Clarity Movement discussed their organization’s experiences on applications of new low-cost air quality management technologies that enable advanced performance-based allocations for smaller or highly localized clean air investments. Specifically he discussed how real-time emissions data can be used to better calculate the public health benefits and corresponding economic benefits of city/ neighborhood-scale investments, such as zero emission public transportation.

This workshop aims to disseminate the findings and technical guidance materials developed during Phase 1 of ADB's Technical Assistance on Supporting the Implementation of Environment Related SDGs in Asia and the Pacific, and disseminate knowledge, experiences and lessons learnt from the Phase 2 in-country subprojects from Mongolia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, and other relevant case studies. It also seeks to agree on the next steps in taking forward this agenda.

François Lesage, CEO of Plastic Flamingo, shared the social enterprise’s creative way to help address marine plastic pollution and post-disaster recovery—a transitional shelter made from 100% recycled plastic waste. He discussed the value of the circular economy not only for healthy oceans, but also for green cities.