Environmental Engineering 4: Health Care Waste Management

Health Care Waste

Waste from diagnosis, treatment, research, or production in health care

Infectious Waste

Waste suspected to contain pathogens causing disease.

Sharps

Items like needles or scalpels that can cause puncture wounds.

Pathological Waste

Consists of tissues, organs, and body parts.

Pharmaceutical Waste

Includes expired drugs or contaminated pharmaceutical products.

Genotoxic Waste

Contains cytostatic drugs or radioactive materials.

Chemical Waste

Discarded chemicals from diagnostic or experimental work.

Heavy Metals

Toxic metals like mercury, cadmium, lead, and arsenic.

Pressurized Containers

Includes cylinders and aerosol cans with gases like anesthetic gases.

Radioactive Waste

Waste emitting X-rays, alpha, beta, or gamma rays.

Health Care Waste Management Committee

Responsible for waste policy, planning, and compliance.

Health Care Waste Minimization

Involves waste prevention, reduction, and safe re-use.

Administrative Control Measures

Includes systematic product use and elimination of hazardous items.

Segregation

Separating waste types at the point of generation.

Collection and Transport

Moving waste from bins to storage areas with proper labeling.

Waste Management Hierarchy

Prioritizes waste management steps from prevention to treatment.

Green Procurement

Focuses on waste prevention and reduction at the source.

Resource Development (3R's)

Encourages safe re-use, recycling, and recovery of resources.

General Waste

Comparable to domestic waste, this type of waste does not pose special handling problem or hazard to human health or to the environment

Hazardous or Infectious Waste

- Sharps

- Pathological

- Pharmaceutical

- Genotoxic

- Chemical

- Radioactive

- Pressurized Containers

Non-Hazardous or General Waste

- Recyclables

- Biodegradables

- Residuals

Yellow (Bins/Container)

Sharps

Yellow (Liners)

- Infectious Waste

- Pathological Waste

- Anatomical Waste

Brown: Bin/Container/Liners

- Pharmaceutical Waste

- Chemical Waste

- Radioactive Waste

Orange

Radioactive Waste

Black

Non-Biodegradable Hazardous Waste

Green

Biodegradable Hazardous Waste

Waste with High Content of Heavy Metals

represent a subcategory of hazardous chemical waste, and are usually highly toxic.

Biological Infectious Risk

High Risk; Yellow

Chemical Risk

Medium Risk; Brown/Orange

Low Risk

Black/Green

.007 mm

Plastic Liner thickness

Pharmaceutical Waste: tablet or capsule

- remove the expired medicine from the package - throw package in black bag

- palce expired medicine in brown container

Pharmaceutical Waste: liquid

- remove the bottle from the box (package) - then place the box in black bag

- place the entire bottle in brown container or trash liner

Green Procurement

- Waste Prevention

- Reduction at source/Health Care Waste Segregation

Resource Development

- Re-Use

- Recycling

- Recovery

End of Pipe

- Treatment

- Disposal

Yellow Bins

should be away from public

Hazardous waste bins

should be away from patients

Chlorine-free

Plastic used for either containers or bags shoukld be _________

121 degrees Celsius

Not all plastic bags can withstand temperatures of _______, and some can melt during an autoclave process

Three-quarters

waste bags and sharp container filled no mote than _______________ full and sealed

Once a day

General waste and infectious HCW is collected separately at least _______

Transport Staff

___________ are vaccinated against Hepatitis A and B, polio, and tetanus

Steam Treatment Technology

- autoclave and microwave; capable of treating a range of infectious waste, including cultures and stocks, sharps, materials contaminated with blood

Chemical disinfectants

- Dissolved chlorine dioxide

- Bleach (sodium peroxide)

- Peracetic acid

- Lime solution

- Ozone gas or dry inorganic chemicals (calcium oxide powder)

- Alkaline hydrolysis (digest tissues pathological wastes)

Biological

- Enzymes for organic waste

- Composting and vermiculture (kitchen, organix and placenta waste)

- Burial of pathological waste

Encapsulation

filling up of containers with waste and immobilizing materials and sealing containers

Inertization

mostly for pharmeceutical wastes, mixing waste with cement before disposal

Concrete Vault

It is suitable for the disposal of used sharps and syringes, safety boxes filled will be deposited inside the vault

Placenta put

- far from public access

- safety distance of 1.5 meters from the bottom of the pit to the ground level

- not recommended in sites where water table is near the surface

Safe On-site Burial located in remote areas

- applicable only to treated infectious waste, sharps waste, pathological and anatomical waste

- small quantities of encapsulated/inertisized solid chemical and pharmaceutical

- safe burial may be implemented but should be considered transitional, interim solution

Sanitary Landfill

- the waste treatment facility/system for the treatment of infectious and sharps wastes passed the standars for microbial inactivation test; and they are properly treated HCW passed the spore strip test

- the waste treatment facility/system has a valid CPR from the DOH-Bureau of Health Devices and Technology (BHDT)

- the waste treatment facility is an EMB-registered TSD facility

CPR

Certificate of Product Registration

TSD

Treatment, Storage and Disposal