Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 4, 1992 TAG: 9203040295
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BARBARA BUCK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It is ironic that hospitals and other medical facilities should be the cause of this health concern. It is doubly ironic because almost all of this proposed incineration is unnecessary.
Virginia produces approximately 44 tons of medical waste per day, generated by hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes, veterinary hospitals and funeral homes. In layman's terms, biomedical waste includes everything with a potential to infect humans.
True infectious medical waste is about 15 percent or less of the total waste stream from the hospital. Pathological waste is less than 1 percent.
Unfortunately, many hospitals fail to separate infectious waste from everyday trash. All waste becomes "infectious," including cafeteria garbage, flowers, papers and packaging.
The medical-waste crisis that exists in Virginia (and most other states today) results from hospital incinerators burning material for which they were not designed. These on-site incinerators, with short stacks and no air-pollution equipment, were designed to burn organic waste. But, as we have noted, the hospital waste stream today has grown extremely complicated, containing, for example, a high percentage of plastics.
As regulations tighten on the old incinerators, which were adequate to burn organic material, hospitals are faced with the choices of: 1) installing pollution control devices; 2) sending the waste off-site; 3) changing their ordering practices; 4) separating the disposables.
After the scandalous New Jersey beach contamination in 1988, the segment of the medical-waste industry relying on off-site incinerators mushroomed. It used the crisis to promote a technology - not a solution.
There are no federal regulations covering medical-waste incinerators, and there is scant scientific data about such emissions. We do know, however, that the emissions include heavy metals, dioxins, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, as well as fine particulate matter - all of which can impact the health and well-being of the public.
There are at least three alternative technologies for the disposal of medical waste. The first is autoclaving (steam sterilization) coupled with compaction before landfilling the residue. The second is shredding and chemical disinfection. The third is shredding and microwaving. All three are safer and less expensive than incineration. Clearly, incineration should be the last option for medical waste disposal. Yet it is the first.
We could virtually eliminate any need for off-site elimination of medical waste if medical facilities did everything possible to keep throwaway items to a minimum and separated the genuinely infectious waste from the noninfectious waste.
If we still feel that incineration of medical waste is needed, there are simple policies that we should consider. For instance, if hospitals are required to produce a certificate of need in order to expand their facilities to include more beds, why can't the state impose similar "need" requirements on the medical-waste incinerator industry?
Virginia's present off-site medical-waste incinerator capacity is 65 tons per day - more than sufficient capacity to handle the 44 tons generated daily within the state. Why, then, is the medical-waste industry applying to our State Air Pollution Control board for six more permits to construct facilities capable of burning at least 230 tons of medical waste per day? Obviously,it is not going to be in-state infectious waste that will be burned at these incinerators.
Clearly, we need a moratorium on the issuance of any further permits for these incinerators - as three neighboring states, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, have imposed - until Virginia develops a comprehensive medical-waste management plan.
by CNB