Can Medical Waste be Recycled?

Believe it or not, hospitals, homes, and veterinary clinics generate about 2 million tons of medical waste annually. According to the World Health Organization, a portion of the medical waste is recyclable, but most of it was either burned or put in landfills. This is until recently when recycling of medical waste was made an option.

What Medical Wastes are Recycled?

According to Pfiedler, the company that deals with continuing medical education, operating rooms generate the most medical waste, standing at 20-33% of the total waste. Pfiedler says that nearly 23% of surgical waste is recyclable. This is probably because operating rooms use single-use items like IV bags, which are usually plastic.

Why is It Important to Recycle Medical Waste?

The World Health Organization believes that recycling medical waste is a great option than incinerating them. WHO says that incinerating medical waste can produce harmful chemicals such as furans and dioxins. These chemicals are carcinogenic and can cause several adverse health effects on humans.

For medical waste to be recycled, it is first taken through a sterilization process. It is then placed in a sanitary landfill, which have been associated with environmental pollution.

Unlike before, recycled medical waste is not taken to landfills, and this has significantly reduced the amount of pollution that happens on earth every year.

How is Medical Waste Recycled?

In terms of recycling, plastic medical waste is first sterilized and melted down before it is reused. The issue with this is that 19% of operating room waste are sterilized blue wraps which were previously believed to contain lead. Hence, they had to be thrown away as sterilization was not an option.

However, a non-profit hospital in Michigan known as Spectrum Health discovered that it was possible to remove the lead in blue wraps. They then melted the blue wraps and used it in manufacturing plastic items like soda bottles. Consequently, they were able to recycle 19% more of their medical wastes.