Evaluation and enhancement of existing waste management practices at a university hospital

University hospitals are healthcare institutions which produce high amounts of wastes including household, packaging, medical, hazardous and radioactive wastes resulting from implementation and research activities in the field of health care. If the management of hazardous wastes generated during these activities is not carried out in accordance with the relevant legal regulations, significant risks will occur in terms of environment and public health. On average, annual production of 595,230 kg of medical waste has been determined in the university hospital where the study was carried out. The medical waste contributes to the annual medical waste generated in Adana Province by 23.16%. Within the content of this study, current waste management activities and waste management practices at Balcali Health Practice and Research Hospital of Cukurova University with a capacity of 1,200 beds were evaluated within the scope of the legislation. Within the framework of the findings obtained, suggestions were made to improve existing waste management processes. It was observed that the amount of waste and waste disposal costs decreased with the changes and improvements made in the waste management policies of healthcare institution. It was determined that the amount of waste produced per patient was 0.94 kg/person/day between 2014-2016 before improvement and 0.68 kg/person/day between 2017-2019 after improvement. In addition, the average amount of waste per day for a bed was determined to be 1.51 kg/bed/day in 2018 and 1.43 kg/bed/day in 2019.