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Hospital Waste Disposal System & Technology

Medical waste can sometimes contain infectious pathogens that can be dangerous to hospital workers and, to a lesser degree, the general public. Regulation of hospitals and medical waste disposal companies falls under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Direct EPA regulation of medical waste disposal systems and technologies began in 1989 and continue to the present.

  1. History

    • Hospitals, doctors, labs and other sectors of the medical industry have always generated waste. Before 1988, medical waste was not regulated. In some cases, it was incinerated. In other cases, it was thrown out with normal garbage. After medical waste washed up on a number of U.S. beaches, Congress enacted the Medical Waste Tracking Act in 1988. The act was implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1989. Although the act was only enforced in four states and one territory, New York, New Jersey, Connecticuit, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico, between 1989 and 1999, the EPA used information gleaned during the study to create formal regulations for medical waste disposal processes, procedures, systems and technologies.

    Risks

    • According to the EPA, medical waste often loses most of its disease-causing potential over time. Thus, medical waste is most dangerous in the places it is generated. Risk of infection from medical waste is much lower to the public than to people working in medical facilities. In spite of the lowered risk, 90 percent of medical waste is, according to the EPA, currently incinerated.

    Incinerator Regulations

    • The high prevalence of incinerators used for disposing of medical waste resulted in close Food and Drug Administration regulation of medical incinerators. There are two classes of regulations for incinerators. The first is for incinerators built before June 20, 1996. The second is for incinerators built after that date. These regulations are designed to reduce medical waste incinerator emissions of mercury by 94 percent, hydrogen chloride by 98 percent and dioxins by 95 percent.

    Other Waste Disposal Technologies

    • Although 90 percent of medical waste is disposed of in an incinerator, other technologies are used for 10 percent. Alternatives to incinerators include the following: thermal technologies, such as microwaves; steam sterilization, such as autoclaves; electropyrolys, a process of turning medical waste into an inert solid waste; and chemical systems.

    Regulations of Alternative Waste Disposal Techniques

    • Emmissions from any alternative hospital waste disposal systems or technology are regulated by the same documents that regulate incineration technologies, such as the final EPA regulations titled Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources and Emission Guidelines for Existing Sources: Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste Incinerators. The EPA also regulates chemical sterilization systems through the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) of 1996. Any companies wishing to make claims about the use of chemical treatment systems for medical waste must contact the EPA's Office of Pesticide, Antimicrobial Division.

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