MEDICAL WASTES
"Hospital Waste: waste resulting from health care activities for humans or animals, in the areas of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation or research and education, as well as from other activities involving invasive procedures, such as acupuncture, piercing and tattooing, and waste resulting from thanatopraxy." – According to Decree-Law nº 102-D/2020.
Medical Wastes must be subject to selective separation at their place of origin so that they can undergo appropriate and differentiated treatment according to their classification that also includes the principles that should govern the organization and overall management of waste such as the effective risks, labour protection within the sector, the operability of the various sections, ethics and risk perception by the public.
According to the Ordinance 242/96, the Medical Wastes are classified as follows:
Group I has no special requirements in its treatment. In this Group are included:
- Wastes from general services (such as offices, meeting rooms, lounges, toilets, changing rooms, etc...); Wastes from support services (such as workshops, gardens, warehouses and others);
- Common packaging and wrappings (such as paper, cardboard, mixed sleeves and others of similar nature);
- Wastes resulting from cooking and scraps of food served to patients not included in Group III.
Medical Wastes that are not subject to specific treatments and may be equivalent to urban belong to Group II:
- Orthopedic supplies, such as splints, plaster casts and bandages not contaminated and with no traces of blood;
- Diapers and removable covers not contaminated and no with traces of blood;
- Personal protective equipment used in general service and support, except the ones used in waste collection;
- Empty containers of drugs or other products from clinical use, except those included in Group III and Group IV; Uncontaminated saline bottles, except those from group IV.
Group III consists of contaminated wastes (or suspected to be so) which are susceptible of incineration or other effective pretreatment, allowing subsequent disposal as urban wastes, and they are:
- All wastes from rooms or wards of suspected infectious patients, hemodialysis units, operating theater, treatment rooms, autopsy and pathological anatomy rooms, clinical pathology and research laboratories, with the exception of group IV wastes;
- All materials used in dialysis; - Unidentifiable anatomical parts; - Wastes resulting from the administration of blood and blood products;
- Systems used in the administration of serums and medicines, with the exception of group IV; - Fluids bags collectors and their respective systems;
- Contaminated (or with traces of blood) orthopedic supplies (splints, plaster casts and bandages), prosthetic material removed from patients;
- Contaminated (or with traces of blood) diapers and removable covers;
- Personal protective equipment used in health care and support services in general which was in contact with contaminated products (such as gloves, masks, aprons and other).
Group IV is composed by various types of wastes that have incineration requirements:
- Identifiable anatomical parts, fetuses and placentas; - Animal corpses of laboratory experience;
- Cutting and piercing materials: needles, catheters and all invasive materials;
- Rejected chemicals and pharmaceuticals products when not subject to specific legislation;
- Cytostatic and all materials used in handling and administrating them.
Packaging
BioVia guarantees the delivery of suitable containers for the packaging of group III and group IV medical wastes so it can be done in order to clearly identify its origin and its type (since the wastes belonging to Group I and Group II are equivalent to urban wastes, they are not considered hazardous medical wastes), so that screening can be performed as efficiently as possible at the production site.
Containers and bags (*) relating to these Medical Wastes provided by BioVia are consistent and relevant to the legislation in force, including Order 242/96.
(*) Black bags correspond to non-hazardous medical wastes, namely group I and group II, white bags are for group III medical wastes and red bags are for group IV medical wastes excluding sharp and piercing objects.
Collection and Transportation
A recolha dos resíduos hospitalares é realizada em veículos da BioVia próprios para o efeito e com motoristas formados e autorizados para o transporte ADR (Acordo Europeu de Transporte de Mercadorias Perigosas por Estrada) de mercadorias perigosas, sendo o preenchimento das Guias de Acompanhamento de Resíduos – Modelo B responsabilidade da BioVia. A substituição e recolha dos contentores com Resíduos Hospitalares é efetuada de acordo com o horário e a periodicidade indicada pelo produtor dos mesmos.
Treatment
The treatment of the different groups of medical wastes is done in accordance with the requirements of Order 242/96 and for this purpose BioVia has a partnership with several Licensed Treatment Centers. Thus, BioVia offers qualified services at competitive prices, making of itself a viable option for all new producers of medical waste.
Other Services
BioVia - Environmental Management and Engineering, PLC has the ability and the know-how to carry out the completion and submission of the annual Integrated Map of Wastes Registration on the electronic platform SILiAmb,(former SIRAPA), relating to all managed medical wastes.
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