Obtaining a license from the local environmental authorities is
mandatory for any company that treats medical waste, the State
Environmental Protection Administration stated yesterday.
The licensing is part of governmental regulations on medical
waste management, which was enacted by the State Council and came
into effect on June 16.
Anyone who undertakes illegal medical waste treatment will
receive severe punishment, the administration said in a circular
yesterday.
The circular said equipment used for transporting, storing and
treating medical waste must meet the nation's environmental, health
and safety standards.
Although medical waste is at the top of the national list of
hazardous waste materials, many people see it as an easy source for
generating profits.
According to a report on China Central Television (CCTV) on
Sunday, some people scavenge for used medical equipment such as
plastic syringes and blood transfusion bags from the bins at
Changfeng Hospital in Beijing.
Some of the waste collected is sent to a plastic waste market in
Wen'an County in North China's Hebei
Province, where the plastic is used in the manufacture of
barrels and bottles.
Workers at one of the processing plants said such products are
used for wine, other drinks and food such as pickles.
The treatment of medical waste has not been given enough
attention and there is a lack of investment, according to Fan
Yuansheng, vice-director of the administration's pollution control
department, who was quoted by a Xinhua News Agency
report.
For example, more than 40 tons of medical waste are produced in
Beijing every day, but there used to be only two incinerators and
their combined capacity was 10 tons a day.
The situation improved after the outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS), when the capital introduced 16
incinerating devices, which can handle 29 tons of medical waste a
day, the Xinhua report stated.
The report added that medical waste in most cities, with a few
exceptions like Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Dalian and Shenyang, are
simply mixed and treated together with daily waste.
A good sign is that over the next two or three years, the
central government will invest more than 7 billion yuan (US$846
million) to provide treatment equipment so that all medical waste
in the country can be collected and treated.
(China Daily July 29, 2003)