Development of a Pollution Prevention Tool for Sustainable Management of Hospital Wastes

摘要

Hospital wastes can be defined as unwanted items that are generated by different systems and processes in operation within the hospital. Figure 1 illustrates the general composition of hospital generated wastes as reported by the World Health Organization. About 80% of the total waste generated by healthcare facilities is non-infectious (general) waste. The remaining 20% is considered hazardous that includes infectious, pathological, and anatomic wastes (15%), sharps (1%), chemicals and pharmaceuticals (3%), and geno-toxic, radioactive, and heavy metal wastes (1%). Table 1 summarizes the descriptions for different waste categories emanating from the healthcare facilities.