With increasing health facilities in society the amount of hospital waste generated is also increasing substantially. This needs its proper disposal and management. Since it is highly infectious in nature, it is categorized as hazardous waste. Hospital waste means “any solid, fluid, or liquid waste materials including its container and other product generated during short term and long term healthcare consisting observational, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative services for a person suffering from diseases or injury and during research testing and immunization of human beings. Hospital waste includes garbage, rubbish and biomedical waste.Hospital waste is generated during diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals or during research activities also. With industrialization and increasing healthcare services voluminous amount of waste generated by hospital, nursing homes and other healthcare institutions”. Hospital waste contains body parts, organs, tissues, blood and body fluids along with soiled linen, cotton, bandage, and plaster casts from infected and contaminated areas along with used needles, syringes and other sharps. It contains pathogens in mass, in their invisible forms. Therefore, its proper management is essential to maintain hygienic, aesthetics, cleanliness, and control of environmental pollution. If this substantial amount of waste is not properly managed it can pollute soil, air and water. Further, it can cause deadly diseases, either in endemic, sporadic or epidemic forms.
Proper management means proper collection, segregation, storage, transportation and treatment of waste in safer manner to prevent nosocomial or hospital acquired infection. Diseases of modern era like hepatitis-B, AIDS are also drawing attention for proper management of hospital wastes as persons who are in touch of these materials during discharge of their services to mankind are also at the risk. This can be achieved by public awareness about hospital waste hazards Biodegradable waste is the component which is a biological product This waste which is capable of undergoing anaerobic or aerobic decomposition e.g.- food and kitchen waste, paper and paper board etc. Paper and food waste of hospital because of its nature and composition is similar to biodegradable waste from house holds. This component of hospital waste can be safely mineralized using the biological system and by making mandatory to officials of the institutions to follow the guidelines of Supreme Court of India (1st March ,1996 and 30th November 1996 ) and Ministry of Environment Forest, Government of India notification for biomedical waste ( Management and Handling) Rules 1998.