EURO-ECO 2010 Hanover 2 - 3 Dezember 2010	Environmental, Engineering - Economic and Legal Aspects for Sustainable Living
	European Academy of Natural Sciences, Hanover European Scientific Society, Hanover University of Bremen, Bremen

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Abstracts EURO-ECO 2010

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Current medical waste disposal system in Russia is, first of all, focused on contagion prevention. In most healthcare institutions of the Russian Federation potentially infected wastes are disinfected chemically, after that disinfected liquid and semiliquid wastes are discharged into sewerage system, while disinfected solid wastes are collected and removed to rubbish tips along with residential solid wastes. Part of them is cremated. Adding disinfected wastes from healthcare institutions to residential wastes leads to ethical problems in their treatment process. That is why, apart from contagion prevention, there must be a requirement to process this type of wastes till total loss of their properties.

Research objective: to elaborate a recycling scheme as a basis for economically and legally sound system of healthcare institutions waste collection, storage and removal which will provide sanitary-and-epidemiologic welfare and ecological security.

We have considered 3 systems of medical waste disinfection and recycling: centralized, decentralized and cluster ones.

We have conducted a comparative analysis in a megalopolis (St Petersburg). The analysis has shown that for absolute majority of city medical and preventive treatment institutions decentralized system is unacceptable because it runs counter to sanitary regulations and standards, clause 2.2.1/2.1.1.1200-03. This document prescribes a sanitary protection zone of 1000 m around rubbish combustion plants and rubbish recycling plants of capacity under 40 000 tons in case of hazwaste recycling, 500 m – in case of nonhazardous waste recycling.

The findings show that centralized system of wastes disinfection and recycling has significant advantages over decentralized one: firstly, centralized system excludes medical waste disinfection procedures in the place of waste generation, secondly, it implies strictly controlled system of differentiated medical waste collection and delivery to recycling centres with allowance for relevant waste hazard classification. Another important advantage of centralized system is minimizing human factor in waste collection and recycling as specialists in recycling centres are well prepared and few so it is possible to handle production process in an efficient way. Thus, centralized system has high safety margin and fewer risks.

Summary:

1. Centralized system of waste disinfection and recycling meets the requirements to ecological and technological safety at most.
2. Centralized system is economically sound and enables to reduce total expenditures on waste disposal.
3. In the current situation regional regulations have to be elaborated, they must be in accordance with national standards and Russian laws.