The recent closure of a handful of medical waste incinerators has forced Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to take some emergency measures to counter a growing pile of waste from hospitals.
After meeting yesterday, the EPA decided that one temporary solution would be to allow human tissue and pulverized needles to be burned at crematoriums or at public incinerators.
Recent public protests led to the closure of a host of medical incinerators run by both hospitals and waste handlers, including those of Taipei's Veterans' General Hospital, Chiateh Waste Handlers (嘉德公司), and others across the country.
In a meeting with hospital representatives yesterday morning, EPA officials issued some emergency measures to help organizations that cannot dispose of their waste get through the next three months.
It is expected that after that period, during which the EPA will review regulations for licensing, the affected waste handlers will be able to resume their work.
Among the EPA's suggestions were that infectious medical waste could be refrigerated temporarily, until incineration facilities became available.
The EPA also suggested local medical associations negotiate with local environmental protection officials to use public waste incinerators (for non-hazardous industrial waste and household waste) to burn pulverized needles.
The needles would need to be decontaminated in advance under conditions of both high pressure and temperature, officials said.
They added that if necessary, incinerators at funeral homes could also could be considered for disposing of human and animal tissue.
The representatives from more than 20 major hospitals and infirmaries in northern Taiwan, however, said that the EPA's emergency measures could not be considered as a final solution to the problem and requested a permanent solution be found quickly.
They also suggested the EPA look into the real reason behind the protests in the first place, suggesting that they may have been rigged by incinerator owners who wanted to force their competitors to be closed down. Representatives told EPA officials that they were afraid that the three remaining medical waste handlers would inflate their prices because they effectively had a monopoly on the market.
Nearly 50 tonnes of hazardous medical waste are generated by hospitals and clinics each day in Taiwan, and 40 percent of it originates in Taipei, EPA officials said.
Hospitals in southern Taiwan are facing the same dilemma.
According to the Kaohsiung City Medical Association (高雄市醫師公會), more than 1,800 hospitals and clinics in Kaohsiung City -- which together generate about 4.5 tonnes of medical waste per day -- have been storing medical waste since Aug. 7, when their contracted waste handlers were forced to close temporarily due to local opposition.
Hsiao Chih-wen (
"I can't believe that the EPA has been so slow to respond to the crisis," Hsiao said. "Doctors can do nothing but sit back and watch as this mountain of accumulated medical waste grows."
Hsiao said that what doctors really want is the establishment of a sound waste management system that would allow them to dispose of waste safely and economically.
Later this week, the EPA's chief, Lin Jun-yi (
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