Considering possibility of public health risk and environmental hazards, it is important to manage the disposal of“medical waste” properly. Although Korean government has made many efforts to provide safe medical waste managementsystem, some institutional problems are still existing and need to be improved. We focused on medical waste managementin emergency situations. Currently, the most common method of medical waste disposal is off-site incineration, whichaccounts for approximately 99.6% of total waste. However, in case some incineration facilities stopped unexpectedlybecause of fire, strike, breakdown, etc., inappropriate management of the medical waste has been of importantenvironmental concern due to potential secondary infection. This paper presents current limitations of resignment-relatedregulation and suggests improvement methods for effective and safe treatment of the medical waste, especially inemergency situations.

• 김충현(한국환경정책평가연구원) | Choung Hyun Kim
• 조지혜(한국환경정책평가연구원) | Ji Hye Jo Corresponding author