Ths chapter is concerned with identifying the types of hazards associated with health-care waste and who may
be at risk from them by describing the public and environmental health impacts that need to be controlled. Th
large component of non-hazardous health-care waste is similar to municipal waste and should not pose any higher
risk than waste produced in households. It is the smaller hazardous health-care waste component that needs to be
properly managed so that the health risks from exposure to known hazards can be minimized. Protection of the
health of staff patients and the general public is the fundamental reason for implementing a system of health-care
waste management.