Medical Waste Recycling is a complex area of waste management whereby recycling practices and opportunities vary considerably depending on the type of waste at hand. Medical waste includes a number of different sub-types including Pharmaceutical Waste, Sharps Waste, Pathological & Anatomical Waste, Blood and Bodily Fluid Waste, Infectious Waste, Microbiological Waste, Animal waste, and Medical and Surgical Equipment Waste along with its packaging
Medical Waste is a highly specialised area of waste management that requires adherence to a strict set of health and safety regulations and procedures outlined in the Environment Protection Act and the Environment Protection Policy (depending on the size of the medical institution) in Australia.
Collection service providers and medical waste users must follow set policies and procedures in order to maximise infection control and minimise the risk of harm from such waste and its associated collection and disposal. Much of the waste involved is required to be incinerated at an EPA approved site.
Medical Waste Services provide medical practices/institutions with purpose built receptacles and containers to safely hold medical waste until it is able to be collected by its specialised service whereby it is taken away and treated and disposed of as required dependent on its type.
An area of Medical Waste that does allow for recycling practices is that of medical and surgical equipment and its associated packaging. A lot of medical equipment that is used in the medical industry is able to be reused through the practice of careful and highly monitored sterilising procedures. For some equipment of course this is simply not possible, for example with needles which require specialised disposal practices.
With medical and surgical equipment there also comes a great deal of packaging including cardboard boxes, paper information booklets and other material such as plastics that are all able to be recycled in the normal way that is carried out across other industries. This non-contaminated type of medical waste allows for large amounts or paper and cardboard recycling as well as bulk amounts of plastics and other packaging material which is highly beneficial in decreasing the medical industry’s environmental footprint.
The area of Medical Waste Recycling is a complex one however there are strong opportunities for successful recycling practices in certain areas of this type of waste management.
For more information on recycling visit Recycling Sydney
For information on waste and recycling services visit Doyle Bros Recycling Sydney