Development of a Traceability System Considering the Interaction Between Waste Dischargers and Collectors—Transporters, With the Example of the Small Collection of Medical Waste—

Abstract

This study focused on infectious wastes discharged from small-scale medical institutions and aimed to establish an IoT system to promote the proper treatment of medical wastes and improve small-scale collection operations’ efficiency. The present study investigated the proper treatment of infectious wastes in medical institutions, the actual discharge situation, collection, and transportation. Furthermore, we conducted on-site interviews and questionnaire surveys with three collection and transportation companies and 260 small medical institutions in I city. As a result, we developed and proposed a traceability system based on the field needs obtained from these surveys. Specifically, we introduced a button-type pickup request system that replaces the telephone pickup request system, as well as a traceability system based on the activity record management system, and an information-sharing system based on the cooperation of multiple collection and transport companies.