Safe health care waste management: Policy paper

Overview

Health-care activities lead to the production of waste that may lead to adverse health effects. Most of this waste is not more dangerous than regular household waste. However, some types of health-care waste represent a higher risk to health. These include infectious waste (15% to 25% of total health-care waste) among which are sharps waste (1%), body part waste (1%), chemical or pharmaceutical waste (3%), and radioactive and cytotoxic waste or broken thermometers (less than 1%).

To better understand the problem of health-care waste management, WHO guidance recommends that countries conduct assessments prior to any decision as to which health-care management methods be chosen.