Biomedical Liquid Waste is often used interchangeably with Hospital Liquid Waste. However, Biomedical Liquid Waste comprises waste not just from hospitals but many more sources. But first,
What is Biomedical Waste?
- Bio-medical waste means “any solid and/or liquid waste including its container and any intermediate product, which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals or research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biological or in health camps. – Vikaspedia
- Biomedical waste is defined as any waste, which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of human beings or animals, or in research activities pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals. – Source
Bio Medical waste consists of
- Human anatomical waste like tissues, organs and body parts
- Animal wastes generated during research from veterinary hospitals
- Microbiology and biotechnology wastes
- Waste sharps like hypodermic needles, syringes, scalpels and broken glass
- Discarded medicines and cytotoxic drugs
- Soiled waste such as dressing, bandages, plaster casts, material contaminated with blood, tubes and catheters
- Liquid waste from any of the infected areas
- Incineration ash and other chemical wastes
Now, what is Biomedical Liquid Waste?
Amongst all the categories of BMW(Biomedical Waste), liquid wastes pose a serious threat to human health and the environment because of their ability to enter watersheds, pollute ground water, and drinking water when improperly handled and disposed of. At the same time, illegal and unethical reuse of this untreated waste, can be extremely dangerous and even fatal in causing diseases like cholera, plague, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria etc., in either epidemic or even in endemic form, which can pose grave public health risks and consequences and thus is a major problem for healthcare facilities, their employees, and the community at a large.[Source]
The Liquid Wastes are generally of the following type:
- Infectious waste
- Blood and body fluids
- Laboratory wastes (cultures of infectious agents, cultures from laboratories, biological, discarded vaccines, culture dishes and devices)
- Chemically hazardous
- Formaldehyde (obtained from pathology labs, autopsy, dialysis, embalming)
- Mercury (broken thermometers, sphygmomanometer, dental amalgams)
- Solvents (pathology and embalming)
- Radioactive isotopes
- Pharmaceutical liquid waste (discarded/unused/expiry date medicines)
- Photographic chemicals (fixer and developer)
- From cleaning and washing water channeled into the drain.
According to Chapter 2 of the Medical Waste Management and Processing Rules, 2016, “The BMW could not be mixed with other wastes at any stage while producing inside hospitals, while collecting from hospitals, while transporting, and should be processed separately based on classification.” [source]
What are the hazards of Biomedical Liquid Waste?
Most existing systems and technologies being used in handling liquid biomedical waste are failing to address the problem of effective management of liquid waste. For instance, the routine exercise of pouring biomedical liquid waste is being questioned for posing a higher infection threat to medical staff due to its susceptibility to spilling, splashing, and aerosolizing. Untreated liquid biomedical waste contains a wide variety of contaminants that poses health hazards to the community. The wastewater treatment plants can be an additional source of release of methane gas into the atmosphere, which requires capture, destruction, or utilization to reduce the possibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Around 90% of the wastewater produced globally from the HCF remains untreated, causing widespread water pollution, especially in low income countries. Besides there is an increase in the use of this untreated wastewater for irrigation due to the scarce water resources.
How is Biomedical Liquid Waste currently being handled?
Where medical establishments cannot afford treatment of biomedical liquid waste, following measures should be undertaken to reduce risks:
- Patients with enteric diseases should be isolated to wards where their excreta can be collected in buckets for chemical disinfection. This is of utmost importance in cases of cholera outbreaks.
- No chemicals or pharmaceuticals should be discharged into the sewer.
- Sludges from hospital cesspools should be dehydrated on natural drying beds and disinfected chemically (for example, with sodium hypochlorite, chlorine gas, or preferably chlorine dioxide).
- Sewage from these establishments should never be used for agricultural, aqua-cultural, drinking water, or recreational purposes.
Many hospitals, in particular those that are not connected to any municipal treatment plant, have their own Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) or Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs). These plants carry out primary, secondary and tertiary treatment of liquid bio-medical waste followed by sludge treatment. [source]