Search for Waste Disposal Ideas Begins

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Edison Nation Medical, a product developer that helps innovators through the process of licensing, is searching for ways to improve hazardous waste disposal in hospitals and health care facilities.

Edison invites the public to submit ideas through its confidential portal at www.EdisonNationMedical.com/waste through Oct. 24.

Hospitals are one of the largest generators of hazardous waste, defined as waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. The majority of materials procured by a hospital ultimately become waste, resulting in nearly 7,000 tons of waste every day and $10 billion annually in disposal costs across the health care industry, according to Edison. Special waste is also an area that is seeing an increase within the emerging cannabis industry – there may even be an overlap with health care waste where medical marijuana is concerned. Businesses within this industry should learn the methods of properly getting rid of hemp biomass as part of their waste management responsibilities. This is particularly important as this special waste could pose a public health and safety risk, especially to children and animals that might ingest discarded products.

“Hazardous waste disposal is a complicated and costly compliance challenge to health care organizations,” said Robert Grajewski, president of Edison Nation Medical, in a statement. “We believe there is a significant opportunity to introduce innovative new equipment, containers, devices and educational signage that will standardize proper hazardous waste disposal practices across the industry and, thus, make smart choices as easy as possible for busy health care workers.”

Edison suggests inventors consider a cost-saving opportunity through the proper allocation of red bag versus municipal solid waste (MSW), which is commonly known as trash or garbage that contains everyday items. Medical waste that requires proper red-bag disposal includes liquid or semi-liquid blood or other potentially infectious materials; contaminated items that would release blood or other potentially infectious materials in a liquid or semi-liquid state if compressed; items that are caked with dried blood or other potentially infectious materials and are capable of releasing these materials during handling; contaminated sharps; and pathological and microbiological wastes containing blood or other potentially infectious materials.

Many hospitals routinely throw 50 percent to 70 percent of the waste into the bio-hazardous waste stream even though most of the waste is similar to that of an office building. In situations like this, hiring a skip similar to those found at West Auckland Rubbish Removal might be a good choice. Only about 2 percent to 3 percent of hospital waste actually needs to be classified as hazardous. Improper waste identification can be costly – red-bag waste costs up to 10 times more for disposal than municipal solid waste and up to 30 times more than recycling.

Edison also suggests ideas that can encourage or facilitate recycling. The average cost to dispose of MSW is about $250 to $300 per bed, and the average 500-bed hospital will spend $150,000 annually on MSW contracts. Between 25 percent and 30 percent of MSW contains materials that could have been recycled.
There is a wide range of other hazardous waste to consider, Edison notes, including chemical waste, construction and demolition debris, pathological waste, pharmaceutical waste, laboratory reagent waste, radioactive waste, recyclables, solid waste and waste water.