ABSTRACT
The composition of the solid waste in Sri Lanka is not similar to that seen in developed countries due to socio-economic and cultural reasons. Hospital waste is one other component of the garbage collected by the Municipality as a consequence of bad material management procedures for the disposal of clinical wastes: dressings, sharps, swabs and outdated pharmaceuticals together with the associated packing material. The entire collection of hospital waste is transported by the Colombo City Council following the same procedures using the same garbage trucks and routes as for the general municipal waste. In certain areas within the city, waste collection centres as well as small scale waste disposal centres are on open grounds. The garbage in the collection centres is taken by trucks to various sites where it is sorted out for possible reuse, sale or recycling by scavengers moving around the trucks as they unload and spread the garbage.
