What are Hazardous Medical Waste

Just like any kind of public facility, healthcare facilities produce waste materials. Some of them are similar to everyday household waste, while others are hazardous and must be treated with special equipment and techniques.

In this post, we'll go over the different kinds of hazardous hospital waste and a few other important details about them.

The Hazardous Waste Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities Produce

The most common kind of hospital waste is pharmaceuticals, which include unused and expired medications, both prescribed and over the counter. If you see them as unharming materials, you are mistaken because improper disposal of them can lead to water and land pollution.

Hospitals also produce a lot of chemical waste materials, which cover things like pesticides, cleaning solutions, and other harmful materials. Similar to pharmaceutical waste, these chemicals must be specifically treated and disposed of to avoid pollution to the environment.

The most dangerous kind of hazardous hospital waste is radioactive materials. These materials usually come from diagnostic and therapeutic processes and they require specialized handling and disposal methods. Hospitals typically work with a licensed waste disposal company to manage radioactive materials.

The Proper Disposal of Hazardous Waste Hospitals

Incineration is the most popular option to dispose of hazardous hospital waste. It involves burning the materials to very high degrees until most of the materials are destroyed. When incineration is not needed, hospital waste can be sent to landfill.

The Takeaway

Hazardous hospital waste covers a wide range of materials from sharps to pharmaceuticals to radioactive materials. Understanding and executing the proper disposal method for each category is crucial to safeguard both the environment and the public in general. In addition, proper supervision and regulation from related authorities are equally important.