Healthcare Waste Report - Environment Health

Collection, Storage and
Transportation
Hospitals in Yangon City separate hazardous
wastes (such as sharp wastes, infectious wastes)
and general wastes. The collection system is
operated in three shifts at 6 am, noon and 6
pm daily. General wastes in most hospitals are
collected in plastic containers within the
departments. Most of the collection is done by
workers manually. In some hospitals, nurses
and workers collect syringes, and other plastic
materials after using and sell them for
recycling. On the other hand, in some other,
the workers separate needles from syringes
and dispose the needles to the infectious waste
container with other sharps wastes such as
broken glasses. There is no separate container
for sharps wastes and infectious waste. Some
hospitals separate sharp wastes (needles) from
syringes and dispose them in transparent
plastic bottle, but without any label. Finally
they are disposed along with the infectious
waste. Normally, wastes from hospitals are
collected in plastic containers. Green, red and
yellow colors are used for color-coding as
presented in Table below.
Colour Code for Healthcare Waste Collection
Type of waste Disposal Colour
Sharp edges, glass, etc Deep burial Red
Containers and tanks are used for storing and
transporting healthcare waste in Yangon.
There are no standardized storage containers.
Container sizes vary between hospitals. Most
hospitals in Yangon City area store all wastes
from the hospital in separate brick storage
tanks within the hospital campus before
collection. The tanks are generally not
protected against sunlight and rain.
YCDC is responsible for waste collection from
the temporary waste storage bin of the
hospitals and transport them to disposal sites.
Treatment and Disposal
General waste from hospitals is sent to the
open dump by YCDC. All infectious wastes
are burnt in the cemetery incinerator. After
incineration, the ashes are sent to the open
dump sites for disposal. However, there is no
proper treatment for recyclable materials. The
recyclers wash all recyclable materials from
hospital wastes and mix with other recyclable
wastes. Clinical waste incinerated at
cemeteries in Yangon is 171.54 tons/year and
51.18 tons/year of sharps are buried at the
sharp pits near the cemeteries.
Infectious parts Incineration Yellow
Domestic/General waste Dump site Black
67 HEALTHCARE WASTE IN ASIA: INTUITIONS & INSIGHTS