Avaliação legal, ambiental e econômico-financeira da implantação de sistema próprio de tratamento de resíduos de serviços de saúde no HC-FMRP-USP para geração de energia / Legal, environmental and economic-financial assessment to implement a private system to treat medical waste at HC-FMRP-USP in order to generate energy

Juliana Chiaretti Novi

Finding solutions to the waste problem and reducing dependence on fossil fuels due to the growing demand for energy have become big challenges for researchers to deal with. Hospitals are large producers of Medical waste (MW) and also big energy consumers due to their long running hours and the running of equipment that demands adequate infrastructure. Despite accounting for a small share of all the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) not all producers, in Brazil, are concerned about waste treatment and its final destination. The use of technologies developed with the aim of treating such waste in order to generate energy has to be assessed. The Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (HCFMRP-USP) generates around 1.9 tons of waste per day. In this context, the general aim of this research program was to assess the legal, environmental and economic-financial feasibility of the implementation of a private system of biomedical waste treatment at HCFMRP-USP in order to generate energy. The method was structured in exploratory research, data gathering by means of semi-structured interviews with MW department staff at the hospital, with Health researchers, with Engineering College researchers, technical organizations and equipment manufacturers, besides bibliographic referencing and content analysis. Cost-effectiveness analysis was used for the economic-financial analysis. Comparative studies of the types of treatment available and used nationwide were taken into consideration. Thus, the process which best suited the proposed system was that of incineration by means of Gasification Combined Cycle (GCC). Results showed that the proposed system is under the support of Law and it also takes into consideration the National Policy for Solid Waste (NPSW), provided that it has the approval of the Director Council of the Administration of the campus of USP and of its Environment Committee as well as appropriate environmental licenses granted by CETESB and pre-analysis of MW. However, under the environmental aspect, there are public and political issues regarding the acceptance of this implementation in the hospital premises. Although there is the use of advanced technology, the equipment which was assessed needs to be installed, maintained and monitored adequately by professionals trained to operate it so as to avoid possible damage to humans and the environment. Staff involved must be responsible. Finally, under the economic-financial aspect there was a draw between the costs of the treatment conducted at present and those of the proposed investment. Therefore, this last aspect assessed prevailed over the implicit benefit of the decision on whether to implement the process or not. However, the feasibility of the implementation of a private MW treatment system at HC-FMRP-USP in order to generate energy is to be considered under the legal, environmental and economicfinancial aspects.

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