STUDY OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF CLINICAL LABORATORIES SOLID WASTES IN NORTH OF IRAN

Clinical laboratories solid wastes contain an important portion of municipal solid waste. These wastes include microbial pathogens, hazardous chemical compounds, and sharps that affect the health of staffs, patients and customers. This survey was performed to determine the quality and quantity of solid wastes in Babol clinical laboratories in 2010. In a cross-sectional study, 12 clinical laboratories were selected from 22 existing clinical laboratories in Babol using random stratified sampling method. Total solid wastes of each laboratory were collected on 3 successive days and classified into 4 categories i.e. infectious wastes, toxic and hazardous chemical wastes, sharps, and general wastes according to their qualities and hazard potential. Considering the type of waste, physical analysis and weighing of general waste components were carried out through using a digital scale. Solid waste mean of each laboratory was 193.75 Kg per month for which general wastes, infectious wastes, chemical wastes and sharps comprised 38.67%, 51.92%, 4.64%, and 4.77%, respectively. The mean for waste components i.e. food wastes, paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, metal, and the other components in physical analysis of general wastes were 37.5%, 33.06%, 25.4%, 2.42%, 1.21%, and 0.41%. Maximum and minimum solid wastes generated daily were 16.50 and 1.03 Kg and solid waste mean for each patient was determined as 0.07 Kg per day. Considering the extensive amounts of infectious wastes of clinical laboratories and their hazards, continuous supervision of hazardous waste management is necessary in order to protect and promote health for staffs, patients, and customers.