Volume of plastics among biomedical waste generated in an indian healthcare facility: the hidden burden

Background- Bio-medical waste includes waste generated during medical activities, with proper management being crucial for health and the environment. Hospital waste consists mostly of non-hazardous waste, but a portion is infectious and hazardous. Plastic waste in healthcare is a signicant issue, and efforts should be made to reduce its use. The objective of this research study is to investigate plastic usage in Indian hospitals and promote practices that minimize negative impacts. The study was c Methodology: onducted at a Tertiary Care Government University using a cross-sectional and descriptive study design. The inclusion criteria encompassed all solid waste generated in specic areas, while liquid waste was excluded. Waste was categorized according to the BMW 2018 Amendment Rules. The variables of interest included assessing the total amount of waste in different categories and segregating plastics and non-plastics. Data was collected using an assessment toolkit and analyzed with appropriate statistical techniques. The ndings showed that 80.7% of the waste Results- generated during the study period was general waste, while 19.3% was biomedical waste. The largest portion of biomedical waste was categorized as Red waste (10.4%), followed by Yellow waste (6.3%), Blue waste (2.4%) and White waste (0.13%). A segregation process was carried out to analyse the plastics present in the waste collected. The results showed that only 13% of general waste and 18% of biomedical waste consisted of plastic materials. The study's results Conclusionseeks to address plastic waste in healthcare and empower professionals to reduce plastic consumption for the benet of the environment and public health.