Poor biohazardous waste management jeopardizes public health

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Between 2011 and April 2019 , the Mexico Federal Environmental Protection Agency (PROFEPA) registered 255 claims in 29 states of the country for environmental pollution caused by poor management of biohazardous waste , majorly from hospitals .

Information obtained by EL UNIVERSAL through transparency indicates that the states with more citizen reports are the State of Mexico , with 33 registers; Jalisco , with 24, and Mexico City , with 22.

Specialists warned that greater monitoring is needed for the management of this waste, since it embodies a risk to public health . They also said that there is a lack of updated information about its generation, as well as a more strict legislation that supervises the whole chain of waste, from its production to its final disposal.

Among the most alarming reports before the PROFEPA is a landfill reported in 2014 in the municipality of Acolman , the State of Mexico which is one kilometer long .

In 2018 , a laboratory located in the municipality of Tlalpan , which focused mainly on the detection of cervical cancer was reported for the disposal of the robes and the material used for performing the gynecological studies in the trash without following the classification detailed in the norm 087 , which regulates this kind of waste.

Biohazardous waste

is generated during medical attention and can produce harmful effects on health and the environment. The NOM-087-SEMARNAT-SSA1-2002 , published on February 17th, 2003 , regulates biohazardous waste and classifies them in: blood and its components, strains and cultures of infectious agents; pathological tissues and organs removed during necropsies and surgeries; biological sample s for clinical analysis, corpses and parts of animals that were injected with microorganisms of illnesses in research centers or vivariums.

Disposable materials that contain blood or other body fluids of patients, as well as other sharp object s that have had contact with animals or humans during diagnosis or treatment , are also considered biohazardous waste.

In Mexico , there are 4,629 hospitals out of which 1,389 are public, and 3,240 private, according to data of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) until last July.

Between 2004 and 2013

, Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) calculated a generation of 147,347 tons of biohazardous waste, which correspond only to those produced in private and public hospitals, doctor offices, medical laboratories, and other health establishments.

Information of Mexico’s Senate says that in Mexico, hospitals generate daily approximately 191 tons of biohazardous waste , without taking into account health centers with outpatient facilities, clinical analysis laboratories, private doctor offices, clinics, veterinary offices, and rural establishments.

Only 387 companies are authorized by SEMARNAT to collect this amount of waste, while 427 are authorized for the storage and temporary collection of biohazardous waste. Those that can give treatment with sterilization processes, radio waves, and chemical disinfection, are 38 , while those allowed for incineration are only 19 .

According to the World Health Organization , 40% of hepatitis and 12% of HIV cases in the world are due to exposition to biohazardous waste because of improper management.

Mexico: Poor waste management and recycling culture

More control required

Sandra Herrera

, former adviser of Environmental Governance of German cooperation for development in Mexico, highlighted that there is a lag in waste management, since a more strict regulation is required, as well as for the SEMARNAT and the Ministry of Health to have a detailed and updated register of biohazardous waste.

“They must have a very precise control of hospitals and small clinics, both public and private, so that there is an estimate of how many tons of this waste is generated and georeferentiate where they are to concentrate the collection routes ; of course, doing the same with companies that collect, transport and make the final disposal,” she said.

From the hospital to the trash

Gualberto Guerrero

, coordinator of the Waste Separation Program of the council of Nezahualcóyotl , asserted that the order to garbage trucks is to identify biohazardous waste to protect the personnel and prevent it from mixing with the rest of the trash deposited in the landfill known as Bordo de Xochiaca .

“Collecting waste is very dangerous . For rule, we cannot, because it must be collected and treated by specialized companies. If they give us biohazardous waste, we suspend the services for solid urban waste [those generated in homes],” he said.

He said that garbage collectors go through it when they put it in the truck to detect this kind of waste; however, he remembered that three years ago scavengers found human fetuses in black bags.

Tiahoga Rouge

, environmentalist and former agent of SEMARNAT, said that the continuous supervision of hospitals is necessary to verify that they follow the norm and warned that there are not enough inspectors to cover all the points where this kind of waste is generated.

The State of Mexico is light years away from an efficient waste management