18    DISINFECTION OF INFECTIOUS MEDICAL
WASTE USING HIGH ENERGY ELECTRONS
Brian Rolingson, Graduate Research Assistant
Thomas D. Waite, Professor
Bhagyashree R. Kundalkar, Professor
Charles N. Kurucz, Professor
University of Miami, Department of Civil Engineering
Coral Gables, Florida, 33124
INTRODUCTION
The definition of medical waste, its treatment and disposal were not major problems in the
mind of the public throughout the United States prior to 1987. Medical waste incineration systems were relatively easy to permit, most landfill owners and operators did not find hospital
waste objectionable, and offsite disposal costs were reasonable and competitive in most parts of
the country.1-2 Also, the regulations covering medical waste management and disposal were minimal and not very stringent.
In the summers of 1987 and 1988, medical waste dominated the media and public attention.
There seemed to be daily accounts of medical debris washing up on public beaches and broken
containers of medical waste showing up in trash dumpsters and alleyways. On a national level,
the net immediate effect of the flurry of regulatory activities was a rapid and substantial increase
in medical waste volumes coupled with a simultaneous decrease of viable, cost-effective treatment and disposal options. This caused rapid and substantial increases in medical waste disposal
costs. The most common method of disposal chosen is incineration, with approximately 3,700
medical waste incinerators (MWIs) currently in operation throughout the United States.1-4 While
incineration is a very effective method of rendering the waste noninfectious, it results in the production of air pollutants which include dioxin, hydrogen chloride, lead, cadmium, and mercury.
Recently issued federal regulations require the retrofitting of these incinerators to prevent the release of pollutants to the surrounding atmosphere. This situation will increase the operating costs
for medical waste incinerators, and this in turn will encourage research and development efforts
to find better, more cost-effective methods for treating and disposing of medical waste.5-6
IDENTIFYING MEDICAL WASTE
The identification of medical waste is a troublesome issue because there is no consensus about
which wastes should be managed as infectious. It is essential to define what is meant by "medical waste." At present there is not even agreement on the terminology that should be used for
this type of waste. Various terms are being used more or less synonymously with medical waste,
including biohazardous waste, biological waste, infectious waste, hospital waste, medical hazardous waste, infective waste, microbiological waste, pathological waste, and red bag waste.1,7
The following is a list of definitions as supplied by the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the Florida State Regulations (1993), Public Health General Provisions and Environmental Control Sections. Solid waste is a catch term used by the EPA to define all solid, liquid,
and gaseous waste. Chemical, hazardous, infectious, and medical wastes are subcategories of
solid waste that can threaten human health or the environment because they are potentially harmful.
The Florida State Regulations (1993) define biomedical waste as any solid waste or liquid
waste that may present the threat of infection to humans. The term includes, but is not limited to.
51st Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1996, Ann Arbor Press, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
Primed in U.S.A.
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