The 1990s were a time of change in many things, including how we see Palm Beach bio-hazardous medical waste management. This was after several incidents of used medical waste, sharps, vials, and other, began appearing on the US beach shores. Of course, this wasn’t the first time such a problem occurred. The first time was only a few years ago, in the 1980s, when medical debris began appearing on the eastern shore of the United States. That time, the federal government responded with the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA) in 1988. Ten years after, on June, 24, 1998, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which was responsible for overseeing the MWTA between 1988 and 1991) and the AHA (American Hospital Association) singed a Memorandum of Understanding, the purpose of which was to eliminate or reduce mercury debris from health care waste streams and also take more active steps towards managing and regulating medical waste disposal throughout the Unite States of America.
About the Responsible Agencies
Health care facilities, such as hospitals, clinics, nursery homes, emergency cents and the rest of them are the biggest contributor of medical waste and as such the most responsible to see bio-hazardous waste management being done properly. These are controlled by federal, state and local health and waste departments and agencies, whose job is to make sure everyone, from the largest city hospital, to some small local dentist office do their part when it comes to handling and disposing of medical waste.
Sharps Waste Disposal
US states implement strict guidelines regarding sharps disposal. This is very important for both health care facilities and individual homes because, as some states report, residents in them generate and throw out more than 500,000 different sharps per day. These not only come from health care facilities (although a vast majority does), but also from individuals, who need to use needles and syringes in order to treat themselves from some illness or diseases, such as diabetes.
Health care facilities usually either have their own bio-hazardous waste management facilities, or they contract a medical waste disposal company to deal with their infectious wastes. The situation, ate least law and regulation-wise, is a little different for individuals. They can either drop their sharps containers at the local medical facility, take it to the fire department, or they can sign in for a mail-back program with the medical waste management company. In some states, there are even needle exchange programs, where you get new needles for used ones.
Seeing the Benefits of Bio-Hazardous Waste Medical Management
Well defined Palm Beach bio-hazardous medical waste management regulations and guidelines are necessary today, not only for health care facilities, but for individuals. They are often the only thing that stands between us getting infected and being safe from it.
