Kuala Lumpur waste management failures
The Health Ministry Kuala Lumpur will take action against Radicare if investigations reveal that the company had failed to dispose of clinical waste properly. Last updated: Monday, July 8, 2019
waste regulation
Sri Lanka pollution from National Cancer Institute
Godigamuwa is a Sri Lankan village in Maharagama, close to the National Cancer Institute. The first thing a visitor notices is a strong chemical odour in the air. A waterway that […]
Hospital dumping solid clinical waste into sewer
Staff at Mary Washington Hospital in Virginia, US, have been dumping medical waste in the city sewer system, including two recent cases when used bandages, gloves and syringes clogged a […]
Health Minister announces new watchdog to minimize medical wastage
The current Health Minister Lord Howe has announced an intention to establish a new supervisory body in an attempt to minimize around £300m lost within the NHS each year due […]
London riots
It is difficult to imagine quite what the link might be between the recent London riots and clinical waste. Pulse is reporting that out-of-hours GPs and their deputising services were forced to reduce home visits […]
The Chinese approach to recycling?
The Chinese market for clinical waste management is massive but remains largely unexploited due to the problems associate with breaking into the Eastern market, of attitudes to safe disposal that […]
Recycled medical waste floods city
“It’s wobbly with a crooked needle and a depressed piston. The tip looks blunt, the cap is loose and the tube has a pale exterior. ‘For single use only‘ says […]
Egypt returns to burning of medical wastes
In a policy shift that reinstates burning of clinical wastes, Egypt is finally moving toward control of its present 150 tonnes per day problem. Last updated: Monday, August 1, 2011
Pharmaceutical discharges from ATT treatment wastewaters
The possibility of unacceptable pharmaceutical discharges from ATT treatment wastewaters has repeatedly been used as an unacceptable ‘tool’ by EA to maniplulate their regulatory position. Last updated: Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Medical waste dumped into Satilla River, Ware County, Georgia
It seems that it turns up everywhere, medical or clinical waste umped into the environment generally by small producers and those seeking to avoid disposal costs, or by others who […]
Clinical waste found on UK beach – Liverpool
A ‘pollution alert’ was triggered in the Liverpool city region when a man spotted what appeared to be toxic chemicals and sacks of clinical waste floating on the incoming tide. Several […]
Diversion of medical waste items to re-use
The composition of mixed clinical waste is highly variable and separaton of individual items for re-use is not practicable without source separation. Though downstream separation of plastics, rubber (latex) and […]
Handling waste from Norovirus outbreaks
The Hospital Infection Society is presently reviewing the penultimate draft of its guidance document “Guidelines for the Management of Norovirus Outbreaks in Acute and Community Health and Social Care Settings”. […]
Medical Waste Institute versus Environmental Protection Agency
The Washington DC Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency for standards of performance for new and future medical and hospital incinerators of infectious waste. […]
Yorkshire waste processing locations
“Normanton has become a “dumping ground” for Yorkshire’s waste”. So says ‘environmentalists’ after plans for a new recycling centre that will employ up to 150 people, were approved yesterday, becoming […]
District council service mergers
Times are hard, and every penny counts. Councils are strapped for cash and are obliged to save every penny possible. Waste collection services are no exception to this, though the […]
Sharps waste recycling
Sharps waste recycling, and indeed recycling of materials including ATT-processed plastics, latex and metals from non-sharps waste must be an environmentally sound option when compared with incineration alone. It is […]
UK Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011
The UK Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011 is published and accessible at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/06/14/pb13540-waste-review/ Last updated: Sunday, June 29, 2014
Reporting of sharps injury – will Council Directive 2010/32/EU help?
Recent reports from New Zealand and Ireland report underreporting of sharps injuries in around one third of doctors and nurses respectively. This is in accord with the many other studies […]
Sharps-related infections
We have previously discussed the wide diversity of infections that can be transmitted by sharps or needlestick injury. Last updated: Sunday, October 13, 2019
UCL restructures waste classification
It is reported that UCL, in conjunction with its partner Mitie, has restructured its waste classification. In what is wrongly claimed to be an industry first – Blenkharn Environmental proposed […]
Siloxane residues in healthcare wastes
Siloxanes have quietly found their way into the revision of HTM 07 01, most likely because they are the latest bee to land in someone’s EA bonnet! Siloxanes apparently cause […]
Are there chemicals in this waste?
The clinical or sanitary/offensive waste streams are not appropriate for the disposal of waste chemicals. We know that, it’s obvious and entirely reasonable that those with chemical wastes for disposal […]
Colour-coded sack holders
Ever since the mis-guided reversal of colour coding for clinical wastes, from red/yellow/Tiger, to yellow/orange/Tiger there has been a plethora of minor publications concerning errors in waste segregation and proposing […]
Clinical waste management – Hong Kong
I discovered the excellent waste management pages of the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department a couple of years ago. We have mentioned them previously on the Clinical Waste discussion Forum […]
Chemical composition of laboratory wastes?
Clinical wastes from laboratories in hospitals, universities and other research or manufacturing facilities may comprise a variety of hazardous materials and will usually be considered as hazardous by risk of […]
Clinical waste from undertakers
Mortuaries and undertakers produce large volumes of clinical wastes. Much of this is liquid waste that would have previously been discharged to foul sewer, but with concerns about discharge of […]
Care home ‘overrun with rats’, £25k fine
It remains sadly too common that private care homes across the UK are run with appalling standards that shame our care services. Regulators are thin on the ground, but at […]
Managing incontinence waste
Managing incontinence waste is a vast problem, and predictably on for which there is generally little care. It’s a waste stream that needs to be shifted, let’s get on with […]
Waste pharmaceuticals
The New England Journal of Medicine last week carries a wonderful Perspective piece (Shrank WH. Our Bulging Medicine Cabinets – the other side of medication nonadherence. N Engl J Med […]