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Hospitals

A hospital is a facility where healthcare services are available. A hospital can be either a private or a public facility. It can produce two types of waste. Some of it is regular waste (which can be disposed of through regular garbage disposal), while the other type of waste is clinical waste. Some facilities have recycling programs for all types of garbage, such as paper, glass, and specialized materials such as electronic waste and medical waste. Medical waste necessitates specific disposal procedures to ensure that there is no contamination of staff, other patients, or the general population. Disposal methods include incineration and in-house treatment before regular disposal. Increasingly, hospitals are dedicating resources to recycling waste as a way to reduce garbage and costs. Nonetheless, disposal remains a challenge, especially in developing countries where limited funds require facilities to cut corners, endangering the local population.

Background

A hospital is a facility where healthcare services are dispensed to patients by dedicated staff using specialized equipment. Presence of specialized staff and equipment means that it acts as a hub for healthcare in a community, and it can have numerous patients and employees frequenting it at regular intervals. Having a high number of people in a relatively small space makes it a fertile place for cross-contamination. Hence, hygiene and waste management are key components of maintaining a healthy facility.

Hospitals can be funded either by the public sector or through private funding (foundations or by insurance companies, for example). As such, each type of facility might have a different approach to patient care and waste management. Different types of hospitals include general hospitals, specialized hospitals (specializing in specific illnesses), and academic hospitals, which are related to institutions of learning and act as practice environments for future healthcare personnel.

Types of Waste Generated by Hospitals

Hospitals generate two types of waste: regular (general) waste and clinical waste. Regular waste is akin to waste generated by most standardized businesses, such as food or paper waste, for example. Clinical waste is waste that can be harmful to human beings and has to be disposed differently than regular waste. It is also sometimes called regulated medical waste (RMW). Clinical waste is regulated to ensure that hospitals dispose it in a safe manner, and hospitals are usually required to maintain logs and inventory of all clinical waste they produce.

Clinical waste can include pathological waste such as tissues, body parts, materials from patients with communicable diseases, soiled linens, human blood, blood products, and needles. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines medical waste as “any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals. “This definition includes blood-soaked bandages, discarded surgical gloves, surgical instruments, and needles, as well as removed body organs (for example, tonsils, appendices, or limbs). On average, between 10 and 15 percent of waste generated by a hospital is believed to be RMW waste.

Disposal of Hospital Waste: Regular, Clinical, and Recycled Waste

Since there are two types of waste generated in hospitals, facilities are responsible for managing them distinctly. Some hospitals go further, implementing recycling programs to incite personnel to recycle materials such as paper, glass, cardboard, and plastics. Some hospitals have more elaborate recycling programs dedicated to specialized waste, such as managing electronic waste (such as outdated computers or diagnostic machines) or medical waste.

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