International consultancy on waste management and minimization in the health sector and related industries in Sri Lanka
Background
The project is based on the experience UNIDO/UNEP have gained through the first phase of the National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) programme, during which NCPCs were established in 20 countries. The present project definition mission shall define the specific requirements for the further establishment and organisation of the NCPC in Sri Lanka.
The NCPC in Colombo has focussed on several topics and sectors, such as the food production and processing sector, wood industry, tourism as well as on the health sector but only for a short period of time. Because of the specific relevance for human health and the environment a more in-depth assessment of integrated measurements in the health care sector is envisaged. Such an approach can focus on: waste handling and disposal, operations management of health care institutions and Cleaner Production methodologies, involvement of the service and product suppliers of the health sector. As examples from other countries show considerable reductions concerning environmental impacts and costs this could also be the outcome of such an initiative.
Outline and target
In order to reach the target of waste reduction and of lowering the risk of waste handling as well as to access the chances of an integrated approach, UNIDO has decided to commission 2 experts from Oekopol with a fact finding mission with a view to outline an upcoming project. During their stay in Sri Lanka the following questions shall be discussed with relevant partners:
- What sort of waste and environmental management is already established in hospitals in Sri Lanka?
- How is hospital waste treated and are there options to make the situation more environmentally friendly?
- Are there possibilities to improve the environmentally-orientated procurement of hospitals?
- Is there a possibility to reduce the costs of hospital waste treatment (e.g. via recovery and reuse)?
- What are the relevant settings within the framework of existing legislation?
The first part of the mission will be the assessment of the situation in hospitals and in the waste management sector.
The second part will be the discussion with representatives from the public and private health care sector (e.g. suppliers of medical products, purchasing department) on further environmentally-orientated improvement within the supply chains in the context of international frameworks.
The overall aim of the mission is to identify the needs of support to technical or managerial developments and if sensible to outline potential support activities.
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