Medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Methods Used by Hospitals in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho

Abstract

This study investigated medical waste practices used by hospitals in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, which includes the majority of hospitals in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Region 10. During the fall of 1993, 225 hospitals were surveyed with a response rate of 72.5%. The results reported here focus on infectious waste segregation practices, medical waste treatment and disposal practices, and the operating status of hospital incinerators in these three states. Hospitals were provided a definition of medical waste in the survey, but were queried about how they define infectious waste. The results implied that there was no consensus about which agency or organization's definition of infectious waste should be used in their waste management programs. Confusion around the definition of infectious waste may also have contributed to the finding that almost half of the IMPLICATIONS The disposal and treatment of medical waste continues to be a topic of controversy and concern, particularly since air pollution standards have forced the closure of many hospital incinerators. This research provides the first comprehensive overview of medical waste treatment and disposal practices being used by the majority of hospitals in EPA Region 10, and updated information about the effect clean air regulations have had in forcing these hospitals to consider alternative medical waste management strategies. As the overall volume and costs associated with treatment continue to increase, this information is important to generators of medical waste, hospitals outside this region, state agencies that are involved in the regulatory processes, and waste management companies that treat medical waste generated by any type of healthcare facility.

Medical waste management in Korea

“…Hospital waste is a more broad definition and refers to all wastes generated by hospitals including infectious and noninfectious waste materials, hazardous wastes and chemicals, and other non-hazardous wastes. Medical waste is often considered to be a subcategory of hospital waste and indicates 'potentially' infectious waste that is produced from healthcare facilities (Klangsin and Harding, 1998;Levendis et al, 2001;Lee et al, 2002a). In this paper, 'medical waste' refers to any potentially infectious wastes that are generated in the diagnosis, treatment, examination, or research by general hospitals, clinics, veterinary, and research centers, as listed in Table 1.…”

Biomedical Pollutants in the Urban Environment and Implications for Public Health: A Case Study

“…Biomedical pollutants generated during the course of healthcare delivery are known to carry greater risks to the environment and human health due to its infectious, hazardous, and toxic composition [1][2][3]. Some classes of biomedical pollutants can interfere with the metabolic processes of organisms, cause neurotoxic, nephrotoxic, and neurological effects on the human body, and stop or kill the growth of living cells [3].…”

Development of a pollution prevention tool for the assessment of hospital waste management systems

“…The waste generated includes laboratory waste consisting of discarded cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated microbiologicals, pathological wastes, selected isolation wastes, used and unused discarded sharps, animal waste, human blood, and blood products (see Figure 1). The hospital wastes may be treated using medical waste treatment technologies that have emerged over the years [1]. However no single technology is suitable for all types of medical waste, and it is crucial for hospitals to individually select the most suitable technologies for treatment and disposal at their facilities.…”