Healthcare Waste Report - Environment Health
Healthcare Waste Report - Environment Health
Healthcare Waste Report - Environment Health
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Korea<br />
<strong><strong>Health</strong>care</strong> <strong>Waste</strong> in Asia: Intuitions and Insights<br />
The Korean Peninsula is situated at the eastern end of the Asian continent extending about 1,100 km<br />
long. China lies across the Yellow Sea to the west, while Japan is across the East Sea to the east. The<br />
Republic of Korea belongs to the temperate zone with four distinct seasons. The country has a<br />
presidential system with national assembly and is administratively divided into 16 higher‐level local<br />
governments and 230 lower‐level local governments. Nowadays, the local governments are the main<br />
provider of administration services for the citizens.<br />
HEALTHCARE FACILITIES<br />
<strong>Waste</strong> Management Act specifies 16 healthcare waste generators. The main sources of healthcare<br />
waste are hospitals and clinics. As of December 2007, there were 316 general hospitals and 50,123<br />
clinics. Other generators of healthcare waste include public healthcare centers, veterinary clinics,<br />
research institutes for medicine and pharmacy, and so on.<br />
<strong><strong>Health</strong>care</strong> Facilities in Korea<br />
Type of <strong><strong>Health</strong>care</strong> Facilities No. of <strong><strong>Health</strong>care</strong> Facilities<br />
General hospital 1,679<br />
Clinics 2,757<br />
Public healthcare center 2,962<br />
Veterinary clinics 50,123<br />
Others 316<br />
Total 57,837<br />
MANAGEMENT OF HEALTHCARE WASTE<br />
According to <strong>Waste</strong> Management Act, healthcare wastes are defined as “<strong>Waste</strong>s that may threat<br />
human health by infection and, thus, need special treatment for the protection of human health and<br />
environment, which include human organs, animal bodies for clinical test, etc., generated from health<br />
and medical institutes, animal hospitals and other experiment and test institutes.<br />
In Korea, healthcare waste is categorized under specified waste (similar to hazardous waste in other<br />
countries). <strong>Waste</strong> Management Act has included 7 types of healthcare wastes, which are classified<br />
according to the degree of hazardousness. Non‐infectious wastes generated from healthcare waste<br />
facilities are defined as industrial wastes, but are able to be disposed as municipal wastes if the<br />
municipality allows.<br />
Year<br />
<strong><strong>Health</strong>care</strong> waste<br />
Generation (tonnes/year)<br />
2004 43,127<br />
2005 59,056<br />
2006 56,616<br />
2007 82,633<br />
152<br />
Addendum to the <strong>Report</strong>
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