Medical waste
Title:
Safe disposal of medical waste
Short description:
Developing safe and environmentally friendly system of medical waste disposal aiming to decrease health risks for people in Serbia.
Author:
Redmondis Medison doo Zrenjanin
Requested Budget:
521.297 USD
Time frame:
24 months
Problem: Since the beginning of the COVID - 19 pandemic, many of the masks and gloves used for personal protection have been thrown out on the street after use or have been improperly disposed of in bins and containers. They are considered medical waste and their disposal requires special treatment in relation to classic communal waste. This pandemic has shown that there is a serious need for increased capacity of existing plants for the treatment of infectious waste, as well as for covering the entire territory of Serbia with the service of collection, transport and treatment of this waste. In situation like this, any household waste carries the risk of becoming infectious, while this group of producers of infectious waste is completely neglected in the wider action plan.
Solution: The idea is to introduce a safe and environmentally friendly way of medical waste disposal, through innovative approach and technologies, with the goal of addressing health risks for people – from collecting to thermal waste treatment. A significant number of EU countries uses thermal waste treatment to avoid hazardous pollution emitted into the atmosphere. The company "Redmondis Medison" build their first plant for treating non-hazardous and hazardous waste (primarily medical) in 2013, and in 2020 it began to expand its capacities to safely manage medical waste for a larger territory in Serbia, by building another plant for thermal treatment of waste. Company’s last pilot project proved to have optimal performance in medical waste treatment. This solution also encompasses safe hazardous waste treatment on the local level, by introducing special waste containers and bags for storing medical waste at the local level.
Additional info: While there are questions about sustainability, the stakeholder proposing the solution is the only actor currently given permission by the Government of Serbia to handle medical waste. The idea to dispose of hazardous household waste in separate containers is innovative.