Management practices and modeling the seasonal variation in health care waste : A case study of Uttarakhand, India

Purpose Management of hazardous waste is a big challenge to a common biomedical waste treatment facility (CBWTF) because of variations in the amount of different kinds of waste collected and treated from various health-care facilities (HCFs). Hence, prediction of health-care waste (HCW) will be very helpful for the CBWTF in allocation of resources, transportation, storage and disposal of medical waste (MW). This study aims to focus on the current MW handling and disposal practices at CBWTF in Uttarakhand, India. The study also models the seasonal variation in the HCW quantities collected and treated in CBWTF at Uttarakhand (India). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected for two years (2013 and 2014) from CBWTF, and polynomial regression models were used to represent the complex nonlinear relationship among the variables. Findings The fixed trends in the waste generated in two years represent the seasonal variations and illness patterns. The load of approximately 527 kg/day biomedical waste, including all the three categories (red, yellow and blue), was estimated at CBWTF at Uttarakhand, India. The composition of the total waste was calculated as: yellow category (327 kg/day, 62.23 per cent), red category (190 kg/day, 36.66 per cent) and blue category (10 kg/day, 1.44 per cent). CBWTF needs to run an incinerator for 3.30 h, autoclaving machine for 4 h and shredder for 20 min daily as per the calculated load. Research limitations/implications This study is focused on only one CBWTF in Uttarakhand, so the model needs to be validated considering other facilities. Practical implications The model will help the CBWTF to plan its capacity and allocate resources. Social implications Infectious waste coming out from HCFs can be managed in a proper way. Originality/value This study is the first of its kind conducted for CBWTF, Uttarakhand, India.