Why Medical Waste Disposal Is Essential To Healthcare Businesses

On average, the US generates 3.5 million tons of medical waste each year. This breaks down to around 6,600 metric tons per day and between 29 and 42 pounds per patient per day. While this statistic is the second highest by industry, the hazards presented by medical waste makes the proper classification, storage, and disposal of it incredibly crucial.

Common medical waste like needles, scalpels, and broken glass are the most common hazards, but they only are the tip of the iceberg. Cleaning fluids, mercury, and blood are liquids which can be highly dangerous to handle. On the other hand, unused pharmaceuticals or controlled substances can be dangerous to consume in the case of dumpster divers. There is also waste from chemotherapy, which opens up the possibility of medical waste having radioactive components. On top of these hazards, any number of patients can be sick, which compounds these issues as this medical waste can also be highly infectious when handled.

Due to both the high likelihood and wide-ranging nature of the risks, medical waste is sometimes put into a steam enclave to denature any microorganisms that risk infecting people. On the other hand, radioactive or toxic waste is usually incinerated to avoid the possibility of being a problem when accumulated in large amounts.

While this can be a lot of effort for a healthcare provider to manage, this is the specialty of medical waste disposal services companies. Amergy Disposal, for instance, lets clients securely connect with them and properly routes the trash to the right facilities to take the burden off of healthcare companies. Best of all, their service is transparent, clearly priced, and backed by a service guarantee.

Ultimately, keeping medical waste properly managed is an essential step to keeping everyone safe. If you want to make managing waste easy for your healthcare business, taking advantage of Amergy is the way to go.