Biomedical Waste Management in Senegal: A Visit to Dr Sett

Dr Sett means “Doctor Cleanliness” in Wolof. This wordplay resonates with our After the Single Use (AtSU) project. Dr. Sett is the first and only biomedical waste treatment facility in Senegal. Located in Sinda, 68 km from Dakar in the Thiès region, it enables public and private medical facilities to manage all their biomedical waste in a responsible and sustainable manner. On its website, the company presents itself as offering “an eco-responsible and secure solution for biomedical waste management”.

The AtSU Senegal team was therefore keen to visit the site, learn more about how the company operates, and discuss potential collaborations within the framework of the project.

The facility is located in a sparsely populated area, accessible via a small path about ten minutes from the main road. It consists of a large hangar. From the moment one enters the facility, its organisation is immediately apparent. Disinfection equipment, posters outlining internal regulations, safety precautions, and a handwashing station draw our attention. 

The waste management supervisor explains that Dr Sett was founded in 2022 by two partners who were shocked by the sight of medical waste abandoned on Senegal’s beaches. This prompted them to develop a local and sustainable solution for managing hazardous biomedical waste. The company employs around twenty-five people, divided between the administrative office in Dakar and the treatment facility in Sinda. Dr Sett currently treats approximately 500 kg of waste per week. At present, the company works with a limited number of clients, including public health facilities and private clinics (such as the Principal Hospital of Dakar and the Institut Pasteur of Dakar), possibly due to cost considerations.

The waste treatment technician and his supervisor were eager to show us the entire treatment system. For safety reasons, they provided us with single-use masks and gloves. Once past the fence, several types of untreated biomedical waste were stored on site: cardboard waste, pharmaceutical packaging, expired medicines still in their packaging, and 10-liter plastic containers filled with used syringes.

On the left wing of the facility, around ten yellow bins containing untreated biomedical waste delivered by trucks were stored. We were informed that the company operates several trucks that collect biomedical waste directly from client facilities.

At the center of the facility stands the ECOSTERYL machine, a Belgian technology based on the disinfection of biomedical waste. The machine first shreds the waste, which then passes through a microwave treatment process, without emitting smoke or CO₂. According to the technician, the waste becomes fully decontaminated and neutralized within one and a half hours. The residues are then comparable to household waste and are transported to the Mbour landfill for final disposal. 

We then met one of the site managers, a young polytechnic engineer who participated in the creation of the company. He granted us an interview in his office and returned to the original idea behind the project: providing a local and sustainable solution for managing hazardous waste. Together with the two founders, he identified an unmet need in biomedical waste management. Initially, they set up a mobile waste collection service for certain health facilities, transporting the waste to external partners for incineration. Gradually, they decided to build a dedicated facility equipped with appropriate technology. After acquiring their own treatment machine, the company became an autonomous waste treatment unit.

He explained that only one machine of this type is currently available in Senegal. He also mentioned the lack of full administrative accreditation, which sometimes hinders collaboration. He emphasized the challenge of waste sorting at the level of health facilities, which is often poorly managed: “We sometimes have to re-sort the waste here before treatment,” he noted. The machine operates intermittently depending on waste deliveries, and teams rotate according to waste volumes. At the time of our visit, the machine was not operating but the manager did a test ride to show us how the machine functions. The site manager explained that they must comply with specific volume, composition, and usage rhythms in order to meet operational standards.

The company also offers another service: the shredding of confidential documents. Piles of documents awaiting shredding were observed in a corner of the central space. Overall, the site gives the impression of a facility that is not operating at full capacity, for reasons that will be further investigated.

As we left the plant, we felt that we had discovered an encouraging initiative demonstrating that it is possible to establish a biomedical waste management facility in Senegal that meets international standards, with the involvement of the private sector. More detailed questions regarding the implementation process, actors involved, stages, costs, and funding partners will be addressed in-depth interviews with other stakeholders once ethical approval has been obtained.