It was reported that 99.02 wt.% of HW was combustible. evaluated the chemical and physical composition of the HW from National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH). In 1991, the estimated generation of HW in USA was over 3 billion kg while China produced around 700 million kg in 2005. HW shares a high proportion of total waste being produced worldwide. To illustrate, a tissue used to cover the mouth while coughing and sneezing is generally segregated as a general waste, however in the current COVID-19 pandemic, such tissues can be treated as infectious waste depending on the healthcare facility (as observed during visits in UAE hospitals and testing centres dealing specifically with COVID-19 testing). Additionally, specific regulations associated with different facilities such as labs, hospitals and workspaces in different countries can define the scope of “healthcare waste” differently. It is important to note that the amount of waste generated by healthcare facilities in developed countries is quite large (1.2 to 200+ times) as compared to the developing countries, yet the infectious waste percentage in developed countries is about 51% compared to 63% in developing countries. The medical waste from forensic lab (up to 98%) and from health care consultation facilities seemingly represent two extremes of the same end. summarized the waste generation data from several healthcare facilities in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and estimated the medical waste to be from 14% to 38% of the total waste stream generated by these facilities. This estimation is subjected to change and depends on the type of healthcare facility, regulations, the effectiveness of waste segregation, awareness of waste handling staff, storage of the different types of waste in their respective bins.ĭiaz et al. World health organization (WHO) estimated that around 75%–90% of the total waste generated by the health care activities worldwide is non-toxic or general HW (gHW) while only 10%–25% could be considered as hazardous healthcare waste (hHW). This could be due to the development in medical technologies, increasing world population, easy access to the health-cares facilities, and non-reusability and thus unsustainability of most of the medical devices. Management of healthcare waste (MHW) globally and particularly in developing countries has become a major concern because of increasing volume of HW produced. Healthcare waste (HW) is any non-reusable and discarded medical waste generated after clinical, healthcare, and self-care activities such as diagnosis, therapeutic, and inoculation of humans and animals. This work can serve educators, researchers, as well as all the medical staff from nurses to doctors and volunteers who tirelessly contribute to the society in keeping people away from many diseases including the current global pandemic outbreak due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 through the best and most sustainable practices in medical waste management. Studies are required to consider more reliable assessment methods for treatment technologies. Sustainable assessment of technologies, to this point, revealed that in often cases, autoclave assisted with shredder could be a better alternative for the treatment of hazardous healthcare wastes while landfilling of healthcare waste received the lowest ranking. Furthermore, waste generated in the treatment processes and the health and environmental impacts of recent technologies are also examined. This work reviews recent sustainable management of healthcare waste practices, the importance of legalizations, role of clinical waste producing bodies, emerging management trends, and treatment technologies. Management of healthcare waste has gained wide attention in the recent years.
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