Medical Waste

Medical waste is a subset of wastes generated at health care facilities, such as hospitals, physicians' offices, dental practices, blood banks, and veterinary hospitals or clinics, as well as medical research facilities and laboratories. Generally, medical waste is healthcare waste that may be contaminated by blood, body fluids or other potentially infectious materials and is often referred to as regulated medical waste. 

Waste generated by health care activities includes a broad range of materials, from used needles and syringes to soiled dressings, body parts, diagnostic samples, blood, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and radioactive materials.

Poor management of health care waste potentially exposes health care workers, waste handlers, patients and the community at large to infection, toxic effects and injuries, and risks polluting the environment. It is essential that all medical waste materials are segregated at the point of generation, appropriately treated and disposed of safely.

Like some regular trash that is incinerated, medical waste dumped in landfills releases harmful gases into the atmosphere which produces greenhouse gas emissions.

So how do we reach a safe and effective solution?

Unfortunately, not much effort has been exuded towards finding another alternative to incineration. Currently, funding for effective waste management is as underdeveloped as non-burning technologies. The only other way to handle medical waste without burning it includes “deep burial (secure burial in a designated site that is protected from disturbance) and chemical disinfection (spreading of a disinfectant - e.g. chlorine by hand on wastes, or soaking of waste material in a hypochlorite solution prior to disposal by burial),” not exactly environmentally-friendly solutions.

To reduce the risk of environmental and human toxicity, more and more health care facilities are doing their part to recycle and compost what materials they can, and purchasing better products that include less plastic, are reusable rather than disposable, are made from recycled resources, and minimize waste transportation. Even better, all medical facilities should be required to have some sort of waste management system in place and monitored regularly so that the necessary materials are discarded properly for the safety of both people and the environment.