Estudo comparativo de alternativas para o tratamento dos resíduos de serviços de saúde: incineração e desinfecção térmica

Abstract

The objective of this study is the comparison of the incineration process regarding solids waste in landfills provided by health services with the alternative of thermal disinfection with vapor currently used for the treatment of infectious wastes in a landfill. The chemical, infectious and anatomical solid wastes that are generated in health establishments offer a great risk to the public health and, also to the environment, providing a necessity of different treatment in order to reduce the risk and to be in compliance with the laws, norms and guidelines. The research presents some aspects on the management of wastes, the laws, the alternatives for the treatment of solid wastes of the health establishments, great boarding of the landfill and the MDL project and the comparative study between the technologies incineration and thermal disinfection with vapor. It was verified that the incineration process is widely used by developed countries; it presents the costs for inferior investment and treatment and provides the opportunity to treat infectious, chemical and anatomical wastes. Of this form, the conclusion is that the incineration is more flexible and economically more interesting, but cause bigger impact with the toxic emissions of gases. Moreover, it was shown the cities and fiscal agencies responsibilities to be in compliance with legal aspects, considering that in Rio de Janeiro, there are solid wastes of the health service being disposed in the lixões , that are sites to the solids wastes with disposal directly on the ground, by destination companies contracted by the health establishments. The cities, fiscal agencies and health establishments are the main responsible of lacking on investment initiatives, regarding that the final price for the treatment becomes great, compare with the charge price by the responsible companies for the final destination of the solid waste. The expectation is that the development of new researches besides the proposal solution becomes more attractive to investments that contribute to the improvement of public health.