Hospital waste is 100 times more harmful than domestic waste. Among the hospital waste, 85% is non-hazardous and 15% is hazardous. This waste consists of the following substances:

• General healthcare waste - 80%
• Pathological and infectious waste - 15%
• Scalpel or other sharp waste - 1%
• Chemical waste -1.5%
• Pharmacological waste -1.5%
• Radio-active waste or cytotoxic waste - 0.5%
• Broken thermometers, pressurized containers, and used batteries - 0.5%.

It is important to manage the hospital waste of diseased people properly in order to prevent the spread to healthy people.

WHAT DO THEY DO WITH THE HOSPITAL WASTE?

There are many techniques to manage hospital waste, these all help to prevent contamination and cause disease in healthy individuals. All these techniques have their own importance as all types of hospital waste are not sterilized by any one technique.

1)The most widely used technique is “INCINERATION” -

• It is a high-temperature dry oxidation process that reduces organic and combustible waste into the inorganic incombustible matter, this results in a significant reduction of waste volume and weight. This means the hospital waste that can't be recycled or reused is burnt using large machines in industries.

2) Commonly done procedure is “LAND DISPOSAL” -

• This is nothing but dumping the hospital waste in land-open dumps or sanitary landfills. This has been done since ancient times but it is a bit risky if animals or humans come into direct contact with the pathogens.

3) The most unique and useful method “INERTIZATION” -

• This is nothing but mixing the hospital waste with a 35%cement mixture and pressing them into blocks or pellets. This method prevents contamination of ground water and saves the place for dumping. These blocks are dumped into sanitary landfills far from the city.

4) The other techniques are -

• Thermal treatment of hospital waste is done using an autoclave mechanism or screw feed mechanism. 
• Chemical disinfection is done by inactivating or killing the pathogens by disinfecting them. This technique is also used widely.
• Microwave irradiation is done by the action of microwaves at a particular frequency and wavelength to destroy the microbes.

Ministry of Environments and Forests play a major role in maintaining bio-medical waste in India. The bio-medical waste is segregated into different containers at the point of receiving the waste. As shown in the cover pic they are separated and is sent to one of the techniques which have a vital role in destroying such waste is taken into consideration.

I wish I have given you guys some idea about hospital waste and its management. Take care and Be healthy :).