The NHS produces up to 600,000 tonnes of waste per annum – more than 1 per cent of all domestic UK waste. The management of this waste is an essential part of the healthcare system, and yet it’s an area we rarely hear about.
So, what happens to all the waste? David Williams, head of Safety, Health, and Compliance at Stericycle, one of the UK’s leading providers of healthcare waste services, explains.
Healthcare waste management is a strictly regulated industry, and for good reason. When healthcare waste is not managed properly, the adverse outcomes can include sharps-inflicted injuries, exposure to toxic pharmaceutical products or radioactive substances, air pollution, and the uncontrolled release of drugs and drug-resistant microorganisms into the environment. The waste generated by healthcare facilities demands a complex set of waste streams. About 85 per cent of the waste generated by such settings is general, non-hazardous waste, and does not pose any particular biological, chemical, radioactive or physical hazard. Much of the remaining 15 per cent is considered to be hazardous.
Healthcare waste can be broken down into these categories:
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