英文摘要: | Our study aimed to assess environmental impacts of a medical waste (MW) management system in using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology in Algeria.
We use standardized CML2 method to analyze the environmental impacts resulting from one scenario's MW management system for One kilogram of MIW disposed, including: production raw material of the MW, transportation, MW incineration and MW ash storage.
Seven impacts categories were taken into account: Abiotic depletion (AD), Acidification, Eutrophication, Global warming (GWP100), Ozone layer depletion (ODP), Human toxicity (HT) and Fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity (FAET).
The data was obtained from Bachir Montouri hospital, the ECFERAL company, ecoinvent database and the literatures.
Our study showed that all impact categories had significant values, except for ODP. The MW-Transportation contributed to the majority of impacts category. The highest impact category of the MW process was the eutrophication about 51% resultant of the fiber cotton production (38%). Despite significant emissions of dioxins, the BTEX and heavy metals which contributed for both HT and FAET impact, the MW incineration process contributed the least for AD, acidification, eutrophication, GWP(100) after the MW ash storage.
Our findings provide a useful tool to guide policymakers in their choice of environmental performance indicators for disposal of MW.
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