Objective: to analyze waste management in urgency and emergency non-hospital health care service units.
Method: Epidemiological cross-sectional study undertaken at three Non-Hospital Emergency Units. The data were collected using systematic observation, registered daily in a spreadsheet and checklist, and analyzed through descriptive statistics.
Results: the generation of waste varied from 0.087 to 0.138 kg per patient per day. Waste management showed inadequacies in all stages, especially in the separation stage. Infectious waste was found together with common waste, preventing recycling, and piercing and cutting objects were mixed with waste from different groups, increasing the risk of occupational accidents.
Conclusion: the study reveals the lack of an institutional waste management policy, as demonstrated by the failure of operational stages, involving problems related to management, physical structure, material and human resources at the units. This is relevant for health care units, considering the quality of patient care and its interface with sustainability.