The Tehran Municipality (TM) is not responsible for hospital waste management; the relevant law directs that waste management department, health ministry and DoE all cooperate on the issue. But with the recent changes in waste management plan, the municipality will also aid the health ministry in hospital solid waste disposal, Hassan Karimian, head of municipal solid waste department clarified.
Healthcare waste includes sharps, non-sharps, blood, body parts, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and radioactive material. Poor management of healthcare waste exposes health workers, waste handlers and the community to infections, toxin effects and other harm, ISNA reported.
The main aim of waste management is improving social and environmental health, “although electricity could be generated from waste”, he said and pointed out that one of the waste factories in the country is a digester where the waste is converted to methane gas, and eventually to electricity.
“If we see something illegal in waste disposals we will deal with it in a stringent manner,” he added.
