Approximately 15-20% of waste generated by the healthcare sector is considered hazardous material that may be infectious, toxic, or radioactive.
I am working on circular economy solutions to deal with non-hazardous and hazardous (if any) healthcare waste generation. Is there any suggestion or perspective?
Your comments are highly acknowledged.
Regards,
Dear Meisam Ranjbari,
Yes, medical waste is a serious problem and one of the many negative effects of the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) Coronavirus pandemic. Within the closed-loop economy, it is necessary to develop techniques for utilization of environmentally hazardous waste, to improve techniques for recycling plastics, etc. Until several decades ago, glass-metal syringes were commonly used in medicine. These were reusable syringes, which were washed, subjected to high temperature and disinfected after use. Currently, disposable plastic syringes are in common use, millions of which are used every day around the world. These syringes should be decontaminated and recycled or should be replaced by other vaccine and drug delivery solutions based on reusable applicators.
Greetings,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Surely it's a concern issue, careful discard needed.
The packagings, tools and other utensils dispose is a concern factor.
I wrote in my book Chapters of Science about nuclear waste is an additional concern factor for the next generations. Sites and methods etc.
I think that healthcare waste are big concern due to their negative effect. Genially, Health care waste contain may types as illustrated below:
- Infectious waste: waste contaminated with blood and other bodily fluids (e.g. from discarded diagnostic samples),cultures and stocks of infectious agents from laboratory work (e.g. waste from autopsies and infected animals from laboratories), or waste from patients with infections (e.g. swabs, bandages and disposable medical devices).
- Pathological waste: human tissues, organs or fluids, body parts and contaminated animal carcasses.
- Sharps waste: syringes, needles, disposable scalpels and blades, etc.
- Chemical waste: for example solvents and reagents used for laboratory preparations, disinfectants, sterilant and heavy metals contained in medical devices (e.g. mercury in broken thermometers) and batteries.
- Pharmaceutical waste: expired, unused and contaminated drugs and vaccines;
- Cytotoxic waste: waste containing substances with genotoxic properties (i.e. highly hazardous substances that are, mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic), such as cytotoxic drugs used in cancer treatment and their metabolites.
- Radioactive waste: such as products contaminated by radionuclides including radioactive diagnostic material or radiotherapeutic materials; and
- Non-hazardous or general waste: waste that does not pose any particular biological, chemical, radioactive or physical hazard.
The medical waste is always a serious problem, with severe negative impact on environment. In this case the principles of circular economy are perhaps the most important.
Thank you all for joining this discussion. I would like to share with you the final output of this research, which has been published in "Journal of Hazardous Materials" (IF: 10.588), at the following link:
Article Mapping healthcare waste management research: Past evolution...
As part of the circular economy solutions for medical waste, there should be improved waste segregation, disposal of hazardous and polluting waste and recycling systems. During the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) pandemic, additional amounts of medical waste were created, such as used face masks, protective gowns, used needles and syringes after vaccination of citizens, etc. The problem of medical waste should be taken seriously.
Best regards,
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Dear Maissam,
Congratulations for your article.
Vikas Thakur & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Binita Tiwari, 2021. "Managing healthcare waste for sustainable environmental development: A hybrid decision approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 357-373, January
is another article I read and I think it will be useful to gain a broader perspective.
