QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF MEDICAL WASTE GENERATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE STUDY IN ISFAHAN (IRAN)

Quantitative assessment and statistical analysis of medical waste generation at provincial scale in Isfahan was conducted. Results indicated that 59% of the total wastes produced were non-hazardous (general) wastes and the rest were hazardous medical wastes. More than 98% of centers implemented source separation of the wastes at source. Also, more than 91% had a storage room, but only 48% of storage rooms were operated under standard conditions, i.e. storage with appropriate ventilation and temperature control. Only about 21% of medical centers had designated collection vehicles. For the remaining 79% of facilities, the medical wastes were collected (comingled) and transported together with the general or non-medical wastes. As for the treatment of medical wastes, only 7% of centers were equipped with autoclave. Although 22% of centers had incinerators, the majority of them were not functional. Collected wastes from 29% of facilities were disposed together and mixed with the municipal wastes at the same landfill trenches. Wastes from the remaining 71% of centers were landfilled in separate trenches. The waste generation rates for total waste and general (non-hazardous) waste were 3.03 and 1.84 kg/active bed/day, and 1.03 and 0.65 kg/employee/day, respectively. Using multivariate regression analysis of data an empirical equation (Y = 0.55 * NEM + 1.44 * NAB) was established to predict the total amount of waste generated at each facility (Y) as a function of number of active beds (NAB) and number of employees (NEM) of the facility. Strong correlation (R² = 0.97) between the observed and predicted values was observed.