Implicaciones ambientales y riesgos en salud asociados a la disposición de los residuos hospitalarios de la ciudad de Bogotá por el método de incineración sobre el área rural del municipio de Mosquera durante la pandemia de COVID-19

Abstract

Increase in the use of PPE (Personal Protection Elements), care for Covid-19 patients and the vaccination plan for the current Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it a greater generation of biosanitary, sharp-cutting and anatomopathological infectious hazardous waste (ONU Hábitat, 2020). Treatment and final disposal of this waste according to guidelines, conventions and national and international standards for its integral management establish incineration as one of the effective methods for the elimination of pathogens (OMS, 2020). Due to the pandemic, overpressure is presumed in the incineration treatment system (Greenpeace, 2021), especially in poor countries that have local incinerators with poor technology (OMS,2020), that can trigger problems by having inefficient waste disposal (Junta de Andalucía, S.F) or high emissions of polluting gasses criteria and generation of toxic pollutants (Gallardo, 2013), where the effects are minimal referring to criteria pollutants; contrary to the generation of toxic pollutants, where the incineration of sanitary waste is the main source of dioxins and furans per ton of waste burned, thanks to its higher content of plastic and chlorine by volume, reaching 30% against 7% for MSW (Municipal Solid Waste), (Connet, 1997), as they can cause diseases in animals, humans and negative environmental impacts (Parteek et al., 2021). There are approximations to the determination of the levels of these toxic substances in waste treatment, (Giraldo & Ocampo, 2006) No exact value attributable to an impact, but associations (EPA, 2021). This study aims to evaluate the increase in hospital waste and its relationship with the generation of toxic pollutants from historical data on incinerated hospital waste taken from the District Health Secretariat of Bogotá. An inventory of toxic substances, mass balance and pollutant dispersion models is proposed to estimate emissions of toxic pollutants. The adverse effects on the environment and public health are considered according to acceptable standards of the European Union, emission and concentration of dioxins and furans having two possible scenarios: the first with ideal incineration technology and the second with deficient incineration technology. It is demonstrated that there is a latent risk to the environment and health of the area of influence of the incinerator located in the village of Balsillas in the municipality of Mosquera, Cundinamarca, Colombia, by not having adequate mechanisms of technology, operation and control of the work of the incinerator.