If you see the stats then you would notice tons of medical waste gets disposed of every day by various medical institutes and treatment centers since it is necessary to balance the environment and control the pollution. Talking about medical waste, you will find many variants in it such as infectious waste, pathological waste, sharps, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, Genotoxic waste, Radioactive waste, and Heavy metal waste. Here you will find most of the medical waste disposal procedures adapt the medical waste shredding process to ensure the better penetration of the steam. Apart from this it also prevents the waste from getting recycled. You will find many services providers such as Daniels Health Medical Waste Disposal provide all types of medical waste disposal services in the medical industry.
There are various methods available to dispose and treat the regulated medical waste due to its hazardous nature. Before getting any disposal method into practice it is important to understand various applicable regulatory requirements such as overall cost, assess capabilities, and the environmental risks. It is important to keep in mind that few of the treatments come with the warrant consideration for specific pieces of the regular medical waste stream e.g., sharps. Here we will be talking about a few of the methods in detail.
Autoclaving
Autoclaving is known to be a similar process as steam sterilization. It is generally used as an alternative to incineration. It is cost-effective and does not impact health. Here the wastes are sterilized before disposing of them in the landfill. Then the bags of waste are then placed in the chamber to introduce the steam at a specific temperature and pressure. This type of method is generally followed on microbiological wastes and is not suitable for cytotoxic, pathological, or toxic chemical wastes.
Incineration
In this process, the waste gets burned at the temperature of 1800 degrees F to 2000-degree F. This is known to be the easy and quick disposal method for medical waste. Many states prefer incineration as the disposal method for medical waste.
Chemical Disinfection
In the Chemical Disinfection process, the medical waste is treated with various chemical agents like chlorine. This type of disposal method is highly suitable for liquid wastes but it can be used for solid wastes as well. But you would need to make sure to check the degree of contamination, type of disinfectant used, mixing requirement, and the contact time of the waste before getting the waste ready for the Chemical Disinfection procedure. You can also consider grinding the medical waste before getting it ready for Chemical disinfection as this helps to ensure sufficient exposure of the waste to the chemical agent. After this, you can then place the liquid in the sewer system while the solid residue gets disposed into the landfills.
Gas Sterilization
With Gas Sterilization the medical waste is stuffed into the evacuated air-tight chamber and then treated along with the sterilizing agent such as formaldehyde or ethylene oxide. Here the gas comes in contact with waste to kill the harmful agents. But most of the states do not recommend this method as formaldehyde or ethylene oxide are considered toxic agents.
Irradiation
In the Irradiation method, the waste gets exposed to the cobalt source which gives out the gamma radiations. These radiations help to destroy the microbes present in the waste. But considering the high cost of cobalt, this method is not being used by many treatments and medical institutes. It is also not recommended for pathological wastes.
Microwave
The application of microwave technology is highly used nowadays to disinfect medical waste. Here the waste is first shredded and then mixed with water to neutralize all the existing biologicals. Here the computerized controls help to ensure the maximum parameters for disinfection purposes and the right equipment function. Generally, with Autoclaving around 90% of the medical wastes are treated with the help of this method. With shredding you can be ensured of volume reduction and the usage of energy is comparatively lower as compared to the incinerator.
Thermal Inactivation
In this process, the medical waste is introduced to the heating at the right temperature wherein the infectious agents get killed. It is generally used in treating various liquid clinical wastes. Here first the chamber is preheated at the specified temperature and then it is getting released at a specific time.
