According to the condition report by the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO), in 2000, the incorrect treatment of medical waste (primarily the use of infected hypodermic needles and syringes) created the following infections worldwide:

Hepatitis B: 21 million infections;

Hepatitis C: two million ailments; and

HIV: 260,000 infections.

The above figures show how relevant, appropriate DPCC biomedical waste management treatment is. Following the WHO directive, poisonous waste ought to be processed as close to its place of creation as possible. The risks involved with the transport of hazardous waste are significant, and also, the danger factor found in certain substances (e.g., those who are infectious) increases daily. Suitably located and equipped waste disposal facilities may minimize the requirement to transport hazardous substances.

A good deal of the waste from hospitals is contagious biological substance or objects, which, although they are considered "communal" waste, are contaminated. These latter items include textiles, bandages, syringes, and other items exposed to the infection through contact with all patients.

Very much of this waste from hospitals is made up of special surgical tools, such as surgical implants and other implements utilized during surgeries. The disposal of medical waste presents numerous questions, the first of which is: How do medical waste be categorized?

Types of biomedical waste

Infectious waste

Infectious waste can be suspected of containing germs (bacteria, viruses, viruses, or fungi) at a sufficiently large amount or concentration to cause disorder in susceptible hosts. This class comprises:

Cultures and stocks of infectious agents from labs;

Waste from operations and autopsies on patients with infectious diseases (e.g., body cells and substances or tools having come into contact with blood or other body fluids);

Waste originating from infected patients in isolation wards (e.g., urine and feces, dressings from surgical or infected wounds, clothing that's heavily soiled with blood or other body fluids);

Waste having come in contact with infected hemodialysis patients (e.g., dialysis equipment like filters and tube, disposable towels, gloves, and aprons, lab coats, and perfumes );

Infected animals from labs.

Pathological waste

Infectious materials comprising dead tissue may hide especially hazardous and contagious infectious agents. Such waste contains blood, body fluids, organs, tissues, body parts, human fetuses, and animal carcasses. A subcategory of pathological waste is anatomical waste, made up of recognizable animal or human body parts, healthy or otherwise.

Sharps

Sharps are objects sharp enough to cut or puncture the skin, e.g., knives, scalpels, other blades, infusion sets, needles, hypodermic needles, saws, broken glass, nails, etc. They can transmit infections directly into the bloodstream. Sharps are generally treated as highly toxic medical waste whether or not they are contaminated or not.

Two primary methods are utilized to tackle the probability of infection that sharps pose -- decreasing their infectiousness or sharpness. The first solution generally entails specifying therapy methods for sharps, which can often be as stringent as those applied to pathological waste. The second alternative may entail their sharps' isolation (usually in specific containers), their mechanical processing, or their encapsulation. Many nations have thoroughgoing regulations concerning sharps containers, such as measures to ensure their puncture-resistance and clear labeling. Individual states require sharps to be automatically blunted or shredded, while others need them to be rendered unidentifiable.

Incineration

Incineration was previously the most popular way of disposing of the vast majority of hazardous medical waste. Though it stays a widely-used alternative, other methods are increasing in popularity. When choosing a treatment alternative, various factors have to be taken into consideration. Many of them depend on local requirements, such as safety and health requirements, the available choices for the final disposal of this waste, etc.