This paper presents a study undertaken to investigate the state of medical waste management
practices in different hospitals in the north eastern Free State Province, South Africa. A random sample of ten (10)
hospitals was selected. A stratified random sample of 138 staff members spread across the ten medical facilities was
selected and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Observation of operations was carried out over a period of six
months. Data collection through observation and interviews covered waste generation, storage, handling,
transportation, treatment and management procedures. Data analysis made use of SPSS to generate descriptive
statistics, correlations and hypothesis testing. The findings reveal that medical personnel do not treat medical
waste as specified in official guidelines, there is no formal training for personnel, medical waste is not a key
priority, low levels of environmental awareness, inappropriate treatment of waste at some sites, and inadequate
budget allocations for medical waste management. These findings indicate that there is an urgent need for addressing
issues of awareness for managers, better on-the job training for personnel, better systems for on-ward conveyance
of waste from facilities to official medical waste treatment plants, an up-grade of existing incinerators and the
enforcement of procedures for waste data collection.