Transcript Healthcare Waste: Basic Data and generation rates Surya Prakash CHANDAK Senior Programme Officer United Nations Environment Programme Division of Technology, Industry and Economics International Environmental Technology.

Healthcare Waste:
Basic Data and generation rates
Surya Prakash CHANDAK
Senior Programme Officer
United Nations Environment Programme
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics
International Environmental Technology Centre
(UNEP DTIE IETC)
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Structure
of Presentation
 Sources of healthcare waste
 Material constituents of healthcare waste
 Characterization of healthcare waste
 Classification of healthcare waste
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Generation rates of healthcare waste
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Sources of healthcare waste
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Hospitals, medical centers, and polyclinics
Clinics, diagnostic facilities, dialysis centers and other specialized outpatient treatment facilities
Primary health centers, rural health stations, basic health units, or health posts
Maternity centers or birthing facilities
Physicians’ offices
Dental clinics and offices
Medical laboratories, biomedical laboratories and research centers, biotechnology laboratories,
nuclear medicine laboratories
Blood banks, blood collection centers, and blood transfusion centers
Nursing homes for the elderly, long-term residential care facilities for the chronically ill, and hospices
for the terminally ill
Pharmacies and dispensaries, drug stores, pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities
Alternative medicine treatment facilities (e.g., acupuncture centers)
Veterinary hospitals, veterinarians’ clinics, and veterinary offices
Animal research and testing centers, and animal quarantine stations
Home health care settings
Health facilities, infirmaries, clinics, or health stations in colleges and universities, children’s schools
and summer camps, military establishments, police stations, prisons, and commercial or industrial
establishments
Emergency service facilities (ambulance stations, paramedic units, rescue operations)
Coroners’ or medical examiners’ facilities, forensic pathology or autopsy laboratories, and crime
laboratories
Drug addiction rehabilitation centers
Funeral homes and mortuaries
Tattoo and cosmetic ear piercing establishments
Sources of healthcare waste contd.
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The bulk of healthcare waste is generally
produced by hospitals. Health-related facilities in
the United States can be categorized according to
15 types of sources. Hospitals, which comprise
only 1% of all health-related facilities, account for
71% of the total healthcare waste generated
annually. Doctors’ offices, nursing homes, clinics,
and medical labs—which together make up 36%
of the total facilities—contribute 22% of the
healthcare waste
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Sources of healthcare waste contd.
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Material Constituents of healthcare
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waste
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Average Material Constituents of Healthcare Waste
Jordan
Peru
Turkey
Taiwan
Kuwait
Italy
Constituent
%
Constituent
%
Constituent
%
Constituent
%
Constituent
%
Constituent
%
Paper
38
Mixed Paper
cardboard
22
5
Paper
carton
16
5
Paper
34
Paper
cardboard
24
8
Paper
34
Plastic
27
Plastic
12
Plastic
41
Plastic
26
Plastic
18
Plastic
46
Glass
10
Glass
8
Glass
7
Glass
7
Glass
10
Glass
8
Metals
5
Metals
2
Metals
4
Metals
9
Metals
0.
4
Food
17
Food
15
Food
12
Textiles
10
Textiles
9
Textiles
11
Anatomical
0.
1
Liquids
12
Textiles
Garbage
6
11
9
Cotton/gauze
18
Placenta
8
Others
35
Other
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Other
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Other
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Environmental
Technology
Centre
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Average
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waste
Material Constituents of healthcare
Average material constituents of healthcare waste,
excluding food waste is given below:
Material Constituents
Composition Range (weight %)
Paper/carton
15-40
Plastics
10-60
Glass
5-10
Metal
1-10
Cloth/cotton/gauze
10-25
Other
5-25
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Characterization
of healthcare waste
Important parameters for characterization of healthcare
waste:
• Moisture Content – varies widely 15-50%
• Incombustibles – 8-20%
• Heating Value – 14.8 MJ/KG- 16.5 MJ/KG
• Chemical Composition – importance of chlorine
• Bulk Density – 100-200 KG/m3
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Classification of healthcare waste
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Major Classification of healthcare waste:
 Sharps
 Infectious
 Pathological
 Pharmaceutical
 Chemical
 Radioactive
 Non-risk general
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Healthcare waste generation rates
Factors affecting the rate of waste generation in
healthcare facilities
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Level of activity (often measured in terms of the number of
occupied beds plus number of outpatients per day, total number of
patients per day, and/or number of staff
Type of department (e.g. General ward, surgical theatre, office,)
Type or level of facility (e.g. clinic, provincial hospital etc.)
Location (rural or urban)
Regulations or policies on waste classification
Segregation practices
Temporal variations (week day vs. weekend, seasonal)
Level of development of country
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Healthcare waste generation rates
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contd.
 Total and infectious healthcare waste
generation by type of facility
–
–
–
Low income countries
Middle income countries
High income countries
 Total and infectious healthcare waste
generation by number of hospital beds
–
–
–
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Low income countries
Middle income countries
High income countries
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Healthcare waste generation rates
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contd.
Average waste generation by type of facility
Facility
Total healthcare
waste
generation rate
Infectious
healthcare waste
generation rate
Hospital
2 kg/bed-day
0.5 kg/bed-day
Clinic
0.02 kg/patientday
0.007 kg/patientday
Maternity Centre
5 kg/patient-day
3 kg/patient-day
Clinical
Laboratory
0.06 kg/test-day
0.02 kg/test-day
Basic Health Unit
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0.04 kg/patient0.01 kg/patientday
day
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THANK YOU
For further information:
http://www.unep.org/ietc/
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