Sustainability of medical waste management in different sized health care facilities

In recent years the waste produced within healthcare facilities has raised great attention. The proper management of such waste is fundamental to avoid both public health issues and environmental pollution, so that several countries have been enforcing specific legislative acts to regulate medical waste classification, collection, treatment and disposal. In this context, both the classifi- cation of medical waste and its segregation in healthcare facilities play a key role in the techno-economic optimization of the whole management systems. This study collected annual data dealing with the waste generation in five hospitals characterized by different size in terms of bed capacity. In each facility the amount as well as the composition of medical waste generated over 4 years were analysed; results were also discussed in relation to the hospital operating conditions, including the different forms of admission as well as the occupancy rates. The costs associated to the management of medical waste were presented as well. The analysis of these data pointed out that the waste source separation yields performed in the investigated hospitals suffer from inadequate implementation of the operating procedure, whose simplification could promote the system effectiveness as well as cost reduction.