Backgrounds and Objectives: Medical waste management is one of the important issues in solid waste managment in each community. This research was carried out to study the quantity, quality and the management practices of solid wastes of hospitals in Zanjan City in 2011. Materials and Methods: In the present study, the hospital wastes were categoried and weighted into four main categories. Waste management pattern was studied based on a checklist extracted from national guidelines. Then, hospitals were ranked from very poor to excellent classes. For data analysis, Excel soft ware was used. Results: Waste generation rate was on average 2.402± 0.163 Kg/bed.day in the studied hospitals. The generation rate of domestic waste, infectious waste, sharp wastes, and chemical - pharmacological waste was 1.432±0.059, 0.926±0.096, 0.029±0.0055, and 0.015±0.002 kg/day.bed respectively. The status of the waste management practices was determined as average. Conclusion: Waste generation rate in the hospitals of Zanjan was lower compared with the expected average value in other cities (e.g. 2.71 Kg/bed.day in Tehran). The percentage of medical waste in Zanjan hospitals was 34, which is higher than W.H.O. recommendations. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to reform and monitor certain solid waste management practices in order to reduce health and environmental issues.

Keywords: Hospital waste management, medical waste, generation rate, Zanjan

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