4.5. Segregation and sorting in different levels of medical
Establishments The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has established that only 10% of the healthcare waste is considered to be ‘‘potentially infectious”. The proportion can be further reduced to 1–5% with proper segregation practiced at the sources (UNEP, 2002). There should be a balance between waste reduction and public threat of medical wastes (Blenkharn, 2006). Our study showed that the ratios of infectious wastes to total wastes were high in Taiwan. We are not sure there was a residual effect of up-regulation of waste management during the SARS chaos. We noted that there was a great increase in infectious waste in most medical establishments because of reduced recycling practice and the irrational reaction of society during the SARS epidemic. The increased infectious wastes were associated with eliminated segregation and segregation errors in line with precautions. Medical establishments should enhance the practice of waste segregation, sorting, and resource recycling and recovery.