Physicochemical Analysis of Biomedical Waste Incinerated Bottom Ash Samples to Assess the Biomedical Waste Management Practices of Alwar City, India

Yellow category biomedical waste is a special waste, as it is pathogenic, infectious and hazardous and so it is treated by incineration so as to reduce its hazardness. But the incineration process has many disadvantages, cause it releases many harmful organic compounds, heavy metals and particulate matter which can be carcinogenic. Thus it is very essential that the process is conducted in a controlled manner. The type and concentration of pollutants released during incineration are highly influenced by the biomedical waste management practices followed by the hospital staff (during segregation of biomedical waste in colour coded bins) and at the common biomedical waste treatment facility (during incineration process). So by analysing the ash that is produced as a by-product of incineration two purposes can be achieved. First the toxicity status of the ash can be evaluated and second and most important the biomedical waste management can be assessed, which in itself is crucial as the toxicity level directly depends on this factor. This study was thus designed to analyse the bottom ash samples of incinerated medical waste for pH, total organic carbon (which determine the combustion efficiency of the incinerator at the common biomedical waste treatment facility) and elemental oxide composition (which determine the segregation of biomedical waste into different categories in the hospitals). The results showed that the combustion efficiency was insufficient and the elemental oxide composition highlighted incomplete segregation, suggesting improvements in biomedical waste management so that the toxicity of the waste generated can be reduced.