title: Medical waste management practices in a Southern African hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this paper is to examine the medical waste management practices of a hospital in Southern Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case study methodology was utilised.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed that the hospital does not quantify medical waste. Segregation of medical waste into infectious waste and non-infectious waste is not conducted according to definite rules and standards. Separation of medical waste and municipal waste is however practiced to a satisfactory extent. Wheeled trolleys are used for on-site transportation of waste. Off-site transportation of waste is outsourced to a private firm. Incineration is used in the final disposal of infectious waste. Non-infectious waste is disposed using land disposal method. There is no policy and plan in place for managing medical waste. A number of problems were identified with respect to medical waste management.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The paper gives recommendations with the aim of improving medical waste management in hospitals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa. patienceaseweh@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Patience Aseweh
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Abor
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouwer
mesh_terms: D000353:Africa, Southern; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D017744:Medical Waste Disposal