MASS FLOW ANALYSIS OF INFECTIOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT IN BANGKOK

Abstract

Currently in Bangkok, the amount of infectious waste has been steadily increasing due to advancement in medical services and increasing number of patients in the metropolitan. This resulted in increasing numbers of public health facilities in many areas. It is very challenging to establish appropriate and efficient collection and treatment system to handle this infectious waste. Therefore, this research aims to develop the mass flow analysis (MFA) diagram, measure carbon footprint (CF) and evaluate eco-efficiency of infectious waste management in Bangkok. Furthermore, this research conducted the survey to gather information of infectious waste management within public and private hospitals in Bangkok. The results found that during June 2012 to May 2013, the total number of public health facilities and bed capacities was 2,409 places and 28,141 beds. Average amount of infectious waste sent to treatment facility was 871.33 ton/month. Krungthep Tanakom Company (KTC) is the service provider for infectious waste collection, transport, treatment (with two incinerators) and disposal. The MFA diagram found that when 871.33 tons of infectious waste was treated by two incinerators, it produced 497.87 tons of air pollutants, 281.35 tons of evaporated water, 90 tons of bottom ashes and 2.11 tons of wastewater components. Air pollutants emitted from both incinerators significantly contributed to overall environmental impacts compared to other processes in the management system. Total CO2 emissions from the entire system were 682.39 ton/month. To improve infectious waste management in Bangkok, options to increase the efficiency of transportation system for waste collection were evaluated along with efficiency of energy consumption, CO2 emissions and treatment costs in each management system. New transportation system could decrease CO2 emissions around 31.01% compared to existing transportation system and include other approaches to increase efficiency in addition to transportation, i.e., efficiency of the incinerators. Furthermore, the results from surveys of public and private hospitals provide useful information to improve the efficiency of infectious waste management in each stage from segregation and collection at sources until disposal. These research findings can be very useful for responsible authorities to develop management strategies and policy to better improve the efficiency and promote sustainability of infectious waste management in Bangkok in the future.