Disposing untreated medical waste into the environment is not the best of Key West biohazardous waste pick up and disposal practices. In fact, to be true, this is prohibited by federal and state laws that pertain to medical waste management.
Medical waste is usually defined as any kind of waste that originates commonly at the health care facility such as a hospital, and that includes an infections or other biological material such as bacteria or virus, that can be hazardous to human beings. These materials can include blood, blood products, body fluids (semen, feces, urine…), pathological human waste (body parts, organs and tissue), animal body parts, organs, carcasses, beddings and tissue, lab waste such as culture dishes, contaminated hospital items like surgical gloves, bed covers, etc and sharps waste (needles, syringes, IV caterers, scalpels and so on).
Treatment Methods for Medical Waste
Three of the most commonly used medical waste disposal methods are incineration, autoclaving and chemical decontamination. We will cover here all of them quickly.
• Incineration includes destroying medical waste with the help of extremely hot furnaces. The waste is simply put in a burning furnace and in a few minutes nothing is left except for ashes. This method of medical waste disposal quite successfully destroyed all but the most stubborn microorganisms and reduces the amount of waste considerably. However, the problem with incineration is that it pollutes the atmosphere quite a lot, so it is less and less recommended.
• Autoclaving or steam sterilization is the process of subjecting medical waste to a high pressure saturated steam in order to destroy the microorganism on it. The waste inside is submitted to steam for a period of 15-20 minutes, at a temperature of about 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees Celsius) before it is dispose of. Like incineration, autoclaving is also not a bullet proof method for medical waste management, as some microorganisms are resistant to this kind of treatment.
• Chemical decontamination is another commonly used medical waste disposal method and it involves putting biohazardous waste in chlorine, phenolic or ammonium compounds for a certain period of time. This method is, however, not used on solid, but on liquid and semi-liquid medical wastes. As such, it is necessary to consider its effect on the water it gets discharged into eventually. Quaternary ammonium compounds in particular are dangerous to fish and other water wildlife.
There are a number of other medical waste management methods besides these three, but it should be noted that none of them are 100% effective or safe. So far, the three above have proven to be the most effective way of Key West biohazardous waste pick up and disposal that you can use.
