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There are five primary methods that can be used for Florida bio-medical waste removal. These are:
• Incineration
• Chemical and mechanical disinfection
• Microwaves
• Autoclaves or steam sterilization
• Irradiation

Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages, of course, but they are far from being equally used for treating and disposing of medical waste. One method in particular, incineration, is by far the most widely used among them.
Explaining Incineration

In one of their recent studies, the EPA, or Environmental Protection Agency, revealed that 90% of all medical waste is incinerated. That leaves only 10% for all of the other four methods mentioned above.

• What is incineration?
Incineration refers to the controlled burning of medical waste in a specialized medical waste incinerator, called HMIWI (hospital/medical/infection waste incinerator).
Incineration can be used with nearly all types of medical waste and it can reduce the volume of it by as much as 90%.

• How does incineration work?
With incineration, there is no need to separate or sort out the waste before treated. All of it can simply pass through the incinerator machine on a conveyor belt where it be reduced in volume and sterilized. Once incinerated, waste can be brought to a designated landfill.

However, incineration, although a popular method, is not without flaws. One of the biggest ones is the fact that it can lead to increased pollution from gases and emissions that emanate from the incineration machine during this process. To counter this, the EPA has strict rules and requirements regarding such emissions.

According to EPA, more than 20% of medical waste is plastic. This leads to great concerns regarding chemicals that are released from this material while being incinerated. If you ever smelled a burning piece of plastic, you might have felt a little dizzy because of the fumes. If one small piece of plastic, like a burning bottle for instance can have that kind of effect, imagine what a dozen ton can do for the environment.

Because of this, federal and state governments issued several regulations regarding more strict requirements for medical incinerators in an attempt to reduce the amount of toxins produced, especially furans and dioxins. However, there is still a long way to go here as many bio-hazardous waste removal companies’ still use old waste incinerators that don’t have pollution control equipment.

Also, another benefit of modern incinerators is that all that heat can be harnessed to provide energy for the boilers in hospitals and other medical facilities, this is done by using the heat from primary flame in the incinerator to burn fossil fuels used in the boiler.

While incineration is still very much the dominant method for treating and disposing of bio-hazardous medical waste, the new requirements for reducing the amount of pollutants mean that it is getting increasingly more expensive. As a result, other methods are becoming more and more popular and many facilities are switching to them.

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