Improper garbage disposal can turn us seriously sick and the environment can turn into a nasty polluted cesspool. There are 4 types of wastes:
Solid - less than 70% water content
Liquid - less than 1 % solid content
Hazardous - corrosive and extremely toxic to humans, animals and plants
Medical - syringes, swabs, bandages, bodily fluids etc.
As with the topic, let us get on with the waste management for handling Medical waste safely. The
dumpster rental service in their blog article - Precautions to be taken while disposing medical waste - has provided with some good measures. I will be briefing them out here.
Medical waste may turn hazardous once, if not properly disposed. Universal precautions are used from 1980’s when medical objects started to wash up on many east coast beaches. Let us look into items that are considered medical waste, shall we.
All bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, etc.
Any items contaminated with bodily fluids like the bandages, dressings etc.
Contaminated beddings, gloves, sharp items, such as syringes and scalpel blades.
These items usually are at large from places where medical activities occurs, such as hospitals and clinics, funeral homes and labs. Wastes from these facilities though not infectious normally, has to be treated differently than the other waste items. Much of medical waste is labelled infectious or biohazardous meaning it could lead to the spread of infectious diseases. So, Let us look into the process of waste management of these items, if we end up as the administrative dept of a Hospital or clinic, this might help us keeping our society and environment clean and stable, at least from the hazards that our management makes.
Process:
Always use sterile, waterproof gloves. All waste designated as medical needs needs to be stored and disposed of in bags that won’t leak and in containers marked or labelled with different colours.
Disposable scalpel blades, needles, syringes and other sharp things must be put into puncture-proof containers.
Waste that’s contaminated with blood or other bodily fluids should be double-bagged before it is handled, stored or moved.
Disposal of medical waste should adhere to all provincial and federal laws.
Sharp items that are disposed of improperly can put the workers and public at risk.
An alternative treatment is burning medical wastes through the below mentioned procedures.
Microwaving
Sterilization by steam, like autoclaving
Electro-pyrolysis
Chemical systems.
You can also get rid of them by calling in a good waste removal client.