Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh; Department of Textile Engineering, Daffodil International University, Dhaka 1341, Bangladesh.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 1;871:162083. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162083. Epub 2023 Feb 9.
COVID-19 has accelerated the generation of healthcare (medical) waste throughout the world. Developing countries are the most affected by this hazardous and toxic medical waste due to poor management systems. In recent years, Bangladesh has experienced increasing medical waste generation with estimated growth of 3 % per year. The existing healthcare waste management in Bangladesh is far behind the sustainable waste management concept. To achieve an effective waste management structure, Bangladesh has to implement life cycle assessment (LCA) and circular economy (CE) concepts in this area. However, inadequate data and insufficient research in this field are the primary barriers to the establishment of an efficient medical waste management systen in Bangladesh. This study is introduced as a guidebook containing a comprehensive overview of the medical waste generation scenario, management techniques, Covid-19 impact from treatment to testing and vaccination, and the circular economy concept for sustainable waste management in Bangladesh. The estimated generation of medical waste in Bangladesh without considering the surge due to Covid-19 and other unusual medical emergencies would be approximately 50,000 tons (1.25 kg/bed/day) in 2025, out of which 12,435 tons were predicted to be hazardous waste. However, our calculation estimated that a total of 82,553, 168.4, and 2300 tons of medical waste was generated only from handling of Covid patients, test kits, and vaccination from March 2021 to May 2022. Applicability of existing guidelines, and legislation to handle the current situation and feasibility of LCA on medical waste management system to minimize environmental impact were scrutinized. Incineration with energy recovery and microwave sterilization were found to be the best treatment techniques with minimal environmental impact. A circular economy model with the concept of waste minimizaton, and value recovery was proposed for sustainable medical waste management. This study suggests proper training on healthcare waste management, proposing strict regulations, structured research allocation, and implementation of public-private partnerships to reduce, and control medical waste generation for creating a sustainable medical waste management system in Bangladesh.
新冠疫情加速了全球医疗（卫生）废物的产生。由于管理系统薄弱，发展中国家受到这种危险有毒医疗废物的影响最大。近年来，孟加拉国的医疗废物产生量不断增加，估计每年增长 3%。孟加拉国现有的医疗废物管理远远落后于可持续废物管理理念。为了实现有效的废物管理结构，孟加拉国必须在这一领域实施生命周期评估（LCA）和循环经济（CE）概念。然而，该领域数据不足和研究不足是建立有效的医疗废物管理系统的主要障碍。本研究旨在提供一份指南，全面概述了孟加拉国的医疗废物产生情况、管理技术、从治疗到检测和接种的新冠疫情影响，以及循环经济概念在可持续废物管理中的应用。如果不考虑新冠疫情和其他异常医疗紧急情况造成的激增，预计到 2025 年，孟加拉国的医疗废物产生量将约为 5 万吨（1.25 公斤/床/天），其中预计有 12435 吨为危险废物。然而，我们的计算估计，仅在 2021 年 3 月至 2022 年 5 月期间，处理新冠患者、检测试剂盒和接种疫苗就产生了总计 82553 吨、16840.4 吨和 2300 吨的医疗废物。审查了现有指南和法规在处理当前形势方面的适用性，以及对医疗废物管理系统进行生命周期评估以最大程度减少环境影响的可行性。研究发现，焚烧与能源回收和微波消毒是最具环境影响的最佳处理技术。提出了一种以废物最小化和价值回收为概念的循环经济模型，用于可持续医疗废物管理。本研究建议对医疗废物管理进行适当培训，提出严格的规定，分配结构化研究，并实施公私伙伴关系，以减少和控制医疗废物的产生，从而在孟加拉国创建一个可持续的医疗废物管理系统。
