10 Qualitative Characterization of Healthcare Wastes
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10.4 Current Legislation for Clinical Waste Management
Many of the developed countries in Europe regulated a legislation for the production,
storage, transportation, treatment, and final disposal of the clinical wastes. The legislation for the clinical waste is different from that regulated for the infectious waste
and healthcare waste. In terms of production, it has been mentioned that this process
should be accomplished by an effective segregation at source which represents the
key factor in the clinical waste management strategy as well as facilitate the storage
transportation and the treatment process for the wastes. Moreover, the disposal of
clinical wastes into the landfill is becoming non-acceptable discouraged, while the
treatment process by the incineration has several disadvantages such as production of
toxic by-products (Moritz 1995). The proper waste handling should be started with a
proper segregation and resource recycling (Cheng et al. 2010; Efaq et al. 2015). The
segregation process at the generation source aims to separate a large proportion of the
wastes which are not classified within the infectious and hazardous or clinical waste
and then co-disposing with the household waste to municipal incinerators or landfill
sites. The application of segregation process would lead to minimize the economic
cost for the clinical waste management which needs a special transportation and
treatment due to their hazardous contents. The storage process for the clinical wastes
before the treatment process or the transportation to the incineration is a temporary
process; according to Saini et al. (2004), the storage period should be less than 24 h.
However, in the small clinics, these wastes are collected and stored for few months
(Noman et al. 2016b). The long period of the storage represents a contamination
point for the hospital or clinics with several pathogens.
Some of the clinical wastes such as radioactive and pharmaceutical wastes are
classified as special wastes which have specific regulation in UK for their management process. In USA, EPA is proposing to regulate hazardous pharmaceutical waste
under the Universal Waste Rule, but there are no specific regulations that have been
reported up to date.
Moreover, the legislation and regulation for the clinical waste management aim
mainly to reduce the health risk of these wastes. These legislations are regulated
in the UK (Department of Health), USA (Environmental Protection Agency), Australia (Ministry of Health), Turkey (Ministry of Environment and Forestry), and in
Malaysia (Environmental Quality ACT 1974). In Taiwan, the clinical wastes are classified within the category of hazardous industrial wastes, which include the infectious
materials generated from the healthcare facilities as well as the wastes with a toxic
nature (TEPA 2004). The country has very strict regulations for clinical waste management. However, the treatment process is conducted by only the incineration. In
the regulations related to the management of the clinical wastes, these wastes should
be stored temporarily at the point of generation before it is transported and treated in
a treatment facility such as incineration. Three-container systems have different colors which should be used for the clinical waste segregation, the infectious wastes are
collected in a yellow/red bag, while the general wastes are collected in a black bag;
moreover, the sharps are collected in specific container. These regulations are not
175
10.4 Current Legislation for Clinical Waste Management
Many of the developed countries in Europe regulated a legislation for the production,
storage, transportation, treatment, and final disposal of the clinical wastes. The legislation for the clinical waste is different from that regulated for the infectious waste
and healthcare waste. In terms of production, it has been mentioned that this process
should be accomplished by an effective segregation at source which represents the
key factor in the clinical waste management strategy as well as facilitate the storage
transportation and the treatment process for the wastes. Moreover, the disposal of
clinical wastes into the landfill is becoming non-acceptable discouraged, while the
treatment process by the incineration has several disadvantages such as production of
toxic by-products (Moritz 1995). The proper waste handling should be started with a
proper segregation and resource recycling (Cheng et al. 2010; Efaq et al. 2015). The
segregation process at the generation source aims to separate a large proportion of the
wastes which are not classified within the infectious and hazardous or clinical waste
and then co-disposing with the household waste to municipal incinerators or landfill
sites. The application of segregation process would lead to minimize the economic
cost for the clinical waste management which needs a special transportation and
treatment due to their hazardous contents. The storage process for the clinical wastes
before the treatment process or the transportation to the incineration is a temporary
process; according to Saini et al. (2004), the storage period should be less than 24 h.
However, in the small clinics, these wastes are collected and stored for few months
(Noman et al. 2016b). The long period of the storage represents a contamination
point for the hospital or clinics with several pathogens.
Some of the clinical wastes such as radioactive and pharmaceutical wastes are
classified as special wastes which have specific regulation in UK for their management process. In USA, EPA is proposing to regulate hazardous pharmaceutical waste
under the Universal Waste Rule, but there are no specific regulations that have been
reported up to date.
Moreover, the legislation and regulation for the clinical waste management aim
mainly to reduce the health risk of these wastes. These legislations are regulated
in the UK (Department of Health), USA (Environmental Protection Agency), Australia (Ministry of Health), Turkey (Ministry of Environment and Forestry), and in
Malaysia (Environmental Quality ACT 1974). In Taiwan, the clinical wastes are classified within the category of hazardous industrial wastes, which include the infectious
materials generated from the healthcare facilities as well as the wastes with a toxic
nature (TEPA 2004). The country has very strict regulations for clinical waste management. However, the treatment process is conducted by only the incineration. In
the regulations related to the management of the clinical wastes, these wastes should
be stored temporarily at the point of generation before it is transported and treated in
a treatment facility such as incineration. Three-container systems have different colors which should be used for the clinical waste segregation, the infectious wastes are
collected in a yellow/red bag, while the general wastes are collected in a black bag;
moreover, the sharps are collected in specific container. These regulations are not