The WHO has identified failure of waste management as a serious issue for healthcare facilities to tackle. James Lee, managing director of clinical and healthcare waste sack supplier, Cromwell Polythene, looks at what can be done to tackle this.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 85% of the total waste generated by healthcare activities is classed as general and nonhazardous, with the remaining 15% considered hazardous – potentially infectious, toxic, or radioactive, for instance. It is of crucial importance to infection prevention and control, health and safety, and efficient and costeffective waste management, that healthcare waste is segregated appropriately. The highest levels of soft hazardous healthcare waste should be placed in yellow UN bags, for instance, and sent for incineration. At the same time, general waste can be placed in black sack waste bins, or in segregated recycling bins, for effective disposal.
According to the WHO, however, the most common problems associated with healthcare waste include the low priority given to it, a lack of awareness about the health hazards related to such waste, and inadequate training in proper waste management.
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