Gov’t to Develop Technology for Medical Waste Treatment

Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency Laksana Tri Handoko (28/07/2021) (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat)

In a bid to increase the capacity of medical waste treatment amid COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has announced it will develop technology for micro-scale and mobile medical waste treatment.

This program aims to reduce the increasingly higher volume of medical waste.

“There are several proven technologies developed to significantly increase the capacity of waste management, one of which is technology that can be used for micro-scale and mobile waste treatment,” said Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency Laksana Tri Handoko, Wednesday (28/7).

This technology, Handoko added, can be utilized for medical waste treatment in areas with a small population and waste.

On that occasion, Handoko also proposed other technologies for medical waste treatment that also have the potential to generate revenue, adding that those kinds of technologies will have potential to reduce waste treatment costs.

According to Handoko, one of the technologies is currently being developed is technology for syringe recycling that can produce residues in the form of pure stainless-steel powder.

Moreover, there is also technology for medical plastic recycling that can recycle personal protective equipment and masks waste into pure polypropylene (PP) plastic that has high economic value, he added.

Handoko further said that the number medical waste treatment facilities in Indonesia are currently still uneven.

“There is only 4.1 percent of hospitals that have licensed incinerator facilities. There are also only 20 waste treatment businesses and almost all of them are based in the island Java,” he added.

Handoko expressed hopes that the technology developed by the agency will help health care facilities in treating medical waste. (TGH/UN) (AP/EP)