Why is Proper Medical Waste Disposal Important?

Proper medical waste disposal takes an important place in the health care system of every country. Health care facilities in the United States alone produce tons of medical waste as part of their operations. This is not per year or even per month, but every day.

So what exactly makes proper medical waste disposal so important? To answer this question, we first need to look at what is medical waste in the first place. There are several definitions of it, but in general, medical waste can be defined as any hazardous or potentially hazardous waste generated by a health care facility.

If we look at the Medical Waste Tracking Act from 1988, medical waste is defined as:

“Any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biological.”

The health care facility mentioned here can be anything from a large hospital, a veterinary clinic, nursery home to a medical research laboratory. In other words, any place that treats humans or animals or does medical testing produces medical waste and is obligated to conduct medical waste disposal in accordance to its country’s or state’s regulations.

The Importance of Medical Waste Disposal

Now that we know what medical waste is we can see a lot better why its proper disposal is so important. This kind of waste often includes harmful materials such as used syringes, scalpel blades, and blood-soaked gauzes and can contain hazardous pathogens. These pathogens include various bacteria and viruses that, if introduced into the atmosphere or into the water, pose a great danger of infecting anyone around it, including humans.

Different states in America classify medical waste differently. Most have at least three or four categories of biomedical wastes that need to be treated, but some have much more than that. In any case, a medical facility must follow its state’s regulations when it comes to medical waste disposal.

Why is Segregation or Categorization of Medical Waste Important?

Because different types of medical waste often have different properties and pose different dangers to the environment, they need to be classified to make their packaging, treating, disposal and eventually destroying possibly and effectively.

For example, syringes, needles, scalpels and other such materials used by doctors and physicians are quite a different problem from, say human waste or animal waste, and these, in turn, are different from bandages, gauzes and towels soaked in blood, urine or excrements.

On the other side, solid medical wastes also need to be disposed differently from liquids and semi-liquids. For example, incineration won’t work with liquids, but will on solid wastes and chemical decontamination works the other way around.

Who Should Contact Medical Waste Disposal?

MW disposal can be done on-site if the facility has the necessary equipment. However, since this equipment is often expensive, many smaller medical facilities decide to use the services of a MW waste disposal company that does so in an off-site facility.

Medical waste disposal should only be done by a licensed and professional company. Get a Free Quote today at medicalwastefl.com or call 305-677-2343.