The city of Shanghai will centralize its medical waste disposal system at a new center to be built this year in northwest Jiading District.

Some local environmental protection companies and a German company recently won a bid to manage the project, which is currently awaiting government approval.

With an investment of 100 million yuan (US$12.05 million), the center will be able to handle all medical waste produced in the city except that from Chongming County.

According to plans, the center will take responsibility for medical waste from collection to recycling in order to prevent any from leaking out into local landfills or the community at large.

Refrigerated vehicles designated to transport the waste will be installed with global positioning systems so they are easier to monitor.

Different kinds of medical waste will be collected and carried in separate receptacles.

There are about 4,000 medical facilities in town which produce over 10,000 tons of waste each year. Most of the waste, with the exception of disposable needles recycled by appointed treatment stations, are burned and buried by hospitals around the city.

The current system not only makes it difficult to manage waste, but is also an added expense for hospitals.

"Authorities are working on a regulation on medical waste disposal, and it will go to the Shanghai People's Congress for approval," said Zhang Long, a spokesman for Shanghai Environment Protection Bureau.

Investors will manage the waste disposal center for 30 years before handing it back to the local government.

Currently, hospitals destroy and disinfect such appliances before sending them a processing center in the city's outskirts for further treatment and recycling. Staff there will turn the appliances into plastic granules that have many industrial uses.

"We produce more than 40 kilograms of scrap plastic syringes every day. There are special staff to manage and disinfect them," said Zhang Qunren, an official with Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital.

(Shanghai Daily March 19, 2004)