Annotation4

Goldberg, Michael; Vekeman, Denis; Torjman, Marc; Seltzer, Joseph; Kynes, Teecie (1996) “Medical Waste in the Environment: Do Anesthesia Personnel Have a Role to Play?” 3rd one down

In this article there is discussion about how medical waste can effect emotions. It also states how the correct disposal method costs more money than non-regulated disposal. There is also argument about if incineration is the cheapest way of disposal.

“At least one report considers incineration to be the least expensive method to dispose of regulated medical waste but others report that incineration can be costly and unreliable.”

“The correct and proper refusal of landfill management to handle potentially infectious waste, unless it has been treated, has added to the costs of disposal for hospitals to the extent that regulated medical waste now costs between $0.25 to $0.30 per pound for disposal, compared with $0.016 to $0.03 per pound for disposal of non-regulated, or municipal, waste.”

Medical waste can effect the emotions of the public in the fact that it can make people scared because of what it is doing to the environment.

The proper way of disposing medical waste is costly. The correct method costs 27 cents more per pound. The non-regulated method only costs 3 cents per pound.

About 30% of hospitals have there own incinerators, but reports of what they are doing to the air may lower that percentage.

This article talks a lot about how much it costs to dispose of medical waste the correct way. This explains why many hospitals might be dumping their waste into oceans and waterways.

__Some things I may use in my report include:__

Medical waste can effect the emotions of the public in the fact that it can make people scared because of what it is doing to the environment.

The proper way of disposing medical waste is costly. The correct method costs 27 cents more per pound. The non-regulated method only costs 3 cents per pound.

About 30% of hospitals have there own incinerators, but reports of what they are doing to the air may lower that percentage.

To correctly dispose costs from 25 cents to 30 cents per pound. The non-regulated disposal method costs 3 cents at the most.

To cut down on medical waste, a hospital tested a program to lessen the amount of medical waste disposed of by recycling surgical anesthesia equipment. After an operation, disposable anesthesia breathing systems were separated from surgical waste, and instead of being incinerated, were processed (decontaminated and sorted) for recycling. This resulted in an almost 25% reduction in the amount of regulated medical waste. Instead of having the expense of disposing of the anesthesia waste, the recycling resulted in a small profit. Benefits: lessen amount of pollution resulting from incineration; lessen burden of solid waste on landfills. Concern: potential contamination issues.