Projection of hospital and clinic health care risk waste generation quantities and treatment capacities for the national waste management strategy implementation project

Abstract

This paper addresses the need for quantitative data for planning health care risk waste (HCRW) management from hospitals and clinics in South Africa. Quantitative estimates of HCRW generation and treatment capacity are determined for hospitals and clinics so that: 1) provincial tenders can be prepared and assessed, even if there is no previous recording of masses of HCRW, 2) the outcomes of regional pilot projects can be assessed in a national context, and 3) policy and strategy options can be assessed before changes in policy are made. Projections for generation and treatment come to approximately 28 000 tonnes per annum (tpa). Hospitals are the major source that is, 92%, and commercial treatment services are the major treatment destination, that is, 88%. Authorized treatment facilities capacity, that is, having at least one of, the Provincial EIA Record of Decision (RoD) approval, and the air pollution control licence to operate an incinerator, exceeded generation masses by 36% for January 2006, and this is expected to increase to 84% unless some plants reduce capacity. The treatment and collection capacity of service providers is available to all rural hospitals and clinics in 7 of the 9 provinces, including the most remote facilities in the least populated province Northern Cape. In some provincial departments, segregation, storage and administrative capacity to use these services is still being developed and as result HCRW is being burnt in pits in some rural areas. Commercial treatment services operate nationally on an open bidder tender basis and for each province HCRW is transported over provincial boundaries.