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Health Hazards of Medical Waste and its Disposal 109

8.5.1 Health Impacts of Health-Care Waste
8.5.1.1 Types of Hazards
Exposure to hazardous health-care waste can result in disease or injury. The
hazardous nature of health-care waste may be due to one or more of the
following characteristics:
• It contains infectious agents;
• It is genotoxic;
• It contains toxic or hazardous chemicals or pharmaceuticals;
• It is radioactive;
• It contains sharps.

8.5.1.2 Persons at Risk
All individuals exposed to hazardous health-care waste are potentially at risk,
including those within health-care establishments that generate hazardous
waste, and those outside these sources who either handle such waste or are
exposed to it as a consequence of careless management. The main groups
at risk are the following: medical doctors, nurses, health-care auxiliaries,
and hospital maintenance personnel; patients in health-care establishments
or receiving home care; visitors to health-care establishments; workers in
support services allied to health-care establishments, such as laundries, waste
handling, and transportation; workers in waste disposal facilities (such as
incinerators), including scavengers.
The hazards associated with scattered, small sources of health-care waste
should not be overlooked; waste from these sources includes that generated
by home-based health-care, such as dialysis, and that generated by illicit
drug use (usually intravenous).

8.5.2 Key Facts

▪ Of the total amount of waste generated by health-care activities, about
85% is general, nonhazardous waste.
▪ The remaining 15% is considered hazardous material that may be infec-
tious, toxic, or radioactive.
▪ Every year, an estimated 16 billion injections are administered world-
wide, but not all of the needles and syringes are properly disposed of
afterwards.
▪ Health-care waste contains potentially harmful microorganisms, which
can infect hospital patients, health workers, and the general public.
▪ Health-care waste in some circumstances is incinerated, and dioxins,
furans, and other toxic air pollutants may be produced as emissions.