By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Medical waste management will undergo stricter control as wastes from cancer treatments, chemotherapy and vaccines are to be labeled with electronic tags and put in special quarantined waste areas for management to oversee.
The Ministry of Environment announced a revision bill on waste management that includes medical wastes from hospitals and nursing homes.
The waste will be graded into three categories: wastes from epidemic disease treatments that need to be isolated; damaging waste; and ordinary wastes such as disposable diapers and absorbent cottons.
Those used for chemotherapy, cancer treatment or organ transplant will be categorized as damaging waste and given electronic tags for cold storage for up to 15 days. After this period, they are to be burnt. With the electronic tags, anyone will be able to monitor where the particular waste is, and track its location.
A ministry official said the wastes had previously been buried and had often caused land and water pollution, resulting in the ministries decision to develop a more organized plan for its management.
More than 577 kilograms of waste will be newly designated as medical waste for electronic tags, the ministry said.