Abstract

The dramatic increase in population, expansion of individual comfort zone, and changes in the habit of consumption have brought new problems with them. One of the most significant problems in this respect is the wastes. Developing the management of wastes has become a common problem that needs to be technically solved. In many countries, including Turkey, wastes have been irregularly stored in cities because of different reasons. Urban wastes include radioactive waste, animal products, rotten or expired food products, batteries, dissolvent chemicals, different types of oils, deodorants, products in pressure pots, and medical wastes. The irregular storage of wastes brings a variety of problems with it such as garbage fire, garbage dislocation, and explosion, leakage of wastewater to the underground and surface water, stinking, visual pollution, gas emission, and the greenhouse effect. It is highly significant to dispose of the medical wastes to protect environmental and human health as they involve many different types of biologically hazardous wastes (fetus, scalpel, genotoxic waste, pathological waste, tissue pieces, etc.) as a result of the heterogeneous structure they have. In this frame, the purposes of this study are: Defining and classifying medical waste, determining medical waste management types, analyzing the legal status of medical waste management in Turkey, studying the medical waste management after COVID 19 pandemic and developing solution suggestions for academic studies and practices.

Keywords: Genotoxic; Pathological; Abortifacient; Fetus