Task Group Leader:
Susanne Mahnik, Austria
susanne.mahnik@vamed.com

Contacts:
Susanne Mahnik
Department for Environmental and Hazardous Goods Management,
VAMED-KMB Technical Operation and Management Ltd. Spitalsgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria
phone: +43 1 404009467
email: susanne.mahnik@vamed.com

Background & Scope

Generally, it is the task of medical institutions to protect the population’s health. Therefore no negative environmental effects or any hazards to the people working and living in the environment should be caused by the services they provide. But the higher medical standards, which require the use of more one-way products, and a large number of laboratory analyses, have contributed to produce large amounts of hospital waste that has to be sorted, collected and directed to proper reuse and disposal. The different waste fractions range from simple waste paper through hazardous chemicals to infectious and hazardous materials. Waste management in medical institutions requires many different individual measures and decisions to ensure economic and environmentally-friendly operations.
The idea for the Task Group emerged from an acknowledged need among participants at the Workshop on Hospital Waste during the Sardinia 2007 Symposium.

Aims & Objectives

The Task Group on Hospital Waste aims to:

• coordinate interdisciplinary research on the appropriate collection and disposal of waste from medical institutions. It is intended to provide an intellectual forum to discuss problems of the past, and create solutions for the future. The Task Group should include both academic and industrial researchers and scientists, joining scientific research and practical experience. Member expertise will encompass a broad range of disciplines, including waste management, hygiene in medical institutions, microbiology, chemistry, waste technologies, environmental law and waste law.
• The main aim of the Task Group on Hospital Waste will be an international and interdisciplinary exchange in the collection, the disposal and the management of waste from medical institutions.

Members and Membership

The Task Group, led by Dr. Susanne Mahnik includes members from Germany, Greece, Australia, the UK, the Czech Republic, Spain and India, creating an international forum of researchers..

Current members:

Lillias Bovell, Publishers National Environment Bureau (AU)
Pratap Chandran, (IN)
Marc Hoffmann, University of Jena (DE)
Norbert Fraeyman, University Hospital of Gent (BE)
Yukihiro Ikeda, Kinki University Hospital (JP)
D.P. Komilis, Democritus University of Thrace (GR)
Susanne Mahnik, VAMED-KMB Technical Operation and Management Ltd. (AT)
Sean Manzi, Plymouth University (UK)
Cagri Ün, Çukurova University (TK)
Evangelos Voudrias, Xanthi University (GR)
Montserrat Zamorano Toro, Universidad de Granada (SP)
Magdalena Zimová, (CZ)

Future activities

The next meeting is planned to take place in 2024.