The United States Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that about 4.3 million metric tons of medical/hospital wastes are generated annually in the United States, of this approximately 60% comes directly from hospitals. The other 40% are generated by such facilities as laboratories, physicians offices, dental offices, veterinarian clinics, funeral homes and care facilities, just to name...

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS THE MOST RECENT IN A LONG LINE of US presidents to seek reductions in health care spending through elimination of “waste.” However, the stakes this time are unusually high—the president has reported that eliminating waste is needed to fund two-thirds of the approximately $900 billion needed (over 10 years) for expanded health care coverage. To achieve this goal requires defin...

Background: The waste produced in the course of healthcare activities carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other type of waste. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling of healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well. Objective: The objective was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices of doctors...

This paper reexamines policies and outcomes concerning the NY Bight Restoration Plan, and the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program (NYNJHEP) precipitated by washups of marine debris and medical wastes in the New York Bight some 25-years ago. Findings indicate progress has been made but further work is necessary. Extensive beach closures have not occurred since 1987-88, although localized closings occur...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the outsourcing situation in Taiwanese hospitals and compares the differences in hospital ownership and in accreditation levels. METHODS This research combined two kinds of methods: a questionnaire survey and the in-depth interview to two CEOs of the sample hospitals. One hospital is not-for-profit, while the other is a public hospital and the re...

This article reviews South African (SA) law and its impact on the medicolegal management of fetal remains emanating from elective and therapeutic termination of pregnancies, stillbirths and miscarriages and the remains of abandoned or exposed infants. It was found that remains are treated differently, some constituting medical waste while others have sufficient status in law to allow for burial...

1Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2Center for Solid Waste Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3Center for Water Quality Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Global J. Environ. Sc...

BACKGROUND The proper handling and disposal of Bio-medical waste (BMW) is very imperative. There are well defined set rules for handling BMW worldwide. Unfortunately, laxity and lack of adequate training and awareness in execution of these rules leads to staid health and environment apprehension. OBJECTIVE To assessthe awareness and practice regarding biomedical waste management among health ...

Medical (clinical) wastes are costly in disposal and carry risks of infection, or physical injury, and of exposure to potentially harmful pharmaceuticals, as well as being aesthetically unacceptable. Technological advances in disposal, together with the introduction of rigorous emission standards for incinerators and similarly stringent control standards for non-burn "alternate" disposal techno...