Abstract

HEREDIA, Sandra; GAVILANES, Alex  and  HEREDIA, Fernanda. Integral management of hazardous hospital waste - “Study case Padre Alberto Bufonni, Ecuador”. Perfiles [online]. 2020, vol.1, n.24, pp.37-46. ISSN 2477-9105.  https://doi.org/10.47187/perf.v1i24.77.

A proposal for the management of wastes generated at the “Padre Alberto Bonilla” hospital was developed. To do this, the hospital was divided into 7 areas and waste-generating activities were identified. For each area, it was quantified hazardous wastes, thus their weights, volumes and densities were obtained. Subsequently, environmental impacts caused by an incorrect disposal of hazardous waste were valued by means of cause-and-effect matrix. Finally, the technical proposal was structured to provide solution to the negative impacts identified. As a result, it was determined that the hospital generates 69.07 kg/day of waste, being the areas of greater incidence of hospitalization with a production of 25 kg/day of waste, followed by the kitchen with a production of 19 kg/day. The total daily volume on a basis and the density of the wastes were of 0.83 m3 and 70.8 kg/m3, respectively; and in terms of composition, it depends on the area. According to the cause-effect matrix, the hospital, emergency and laboratory areas have the greatest impact on the problem of hazardous waste. The implementation of the technical proposal for waste management, which will contribute to the sustainable development of the health institution, is recommended.

Keywords : Hospital waste; Waste management; Characterization; Valuation; Environmental impact..

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