Hospital Solid Wastes

Potentially infectious wastes are generated during various activities in hospitals as well as in clinics and other health care establishments. Presently much of the waste from such facilities except large scale hospitals find its way into the municipal waste stream. As the workers handling these wastes are often illiterate, they do not understand the written instructions and often do not take the required precautions.

Categories of wastes

The waste, in general, can be grouped into:

1. Infectious other than sharps from operation the artre, pathology laboratories etc.
2. Sharps and needles, scalpels etc.
3. Chemical and Pharmaceutical wastes.
4. Non-hazardous general waste from kitchens etc.
5. Pressurized cylinders and radioactive sources etc.

Quantities and composition:

1. The data on quantities in Indian health care establishments is rather meagre and indicates the quantities to range from 0.5-2 kg/bed/day.
2. The quantities are dependent upon the extent of use of recyclable and non-recyclable materials,
3. The average physical constituents of hospital waste are as follows:

Storage

1. It is desirable that the waste is subjected to careful sorting, handling and storage in appropriate containers and equipment in the hospitals.
2. The storage should be in corrosion proof containers with double lining. The Biomedical waste rules also specify color coding for the bags and containers.
3. It is also desirable that all infectious waste including sharps are disinfected at the first opportunity.
4. The minimum precaution of storing in hypochlorite solution should be taken.
5. The container should have a foot operated cover and should not be filled to more than 75% of its capacity.

Treatment and disposal

The health care waste has to be treated for its conversion to non-hazardous residue, to contain waste, to avoid human exposure and to contain the residue to avoid its dispersion into the environment

The Biomedical waste rules clearly lay down the treatment & disposal options for different types of waste and it can be seen that at any hospital a combination of methods will have to be used.

The selection of treatment method depends upon the prevailing regulations, the quantities to be disposed of, availability of qualified personnel & technologies and the space available.

The treatment options are:

1. Incineration
2. Chemical disinfection
3. Autoclaving
4. Hydroclaving
5. Encapsulation
6. Microwave treatment.

Such waste which cannot be treated by any of the above methods is normally disposed of in secured land filling by following the standard procedures.

Radioactive waste should be sent back to the Atomic Energy Authority.

Pressurized containers should be sent back to the supplier or to approved recycling centers and should never be burnt.

The cost of waste disposal is not large and even in the developed counties, it represents only 0.25% of the total hospital cost.

Except in large hospitals, the infectious waste is disposed off with general waste

The biomedical waste rules make it mandatory for the hospital administration to follow the rules and ensure that the treatment provided satisfies.

Standards have been laid down regarding incineration, microwave treatment, for deep burial as well as for the liquid waste.