Talk Trash

By Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP) SLS

 

Based on the past months’ web articles, I know it must seem that I am obsessed with waste of all types, solid, liquid, toxic, bio-hazardous, etc.  Believe me, the laboratory staff I work with think I am obsessed as well!  When we are at home, we are usually very selective about how we dispose of our trash.  We separate our recyclables from regular trash, we separate our glass from the cardboard and from the plastics. So why do we tend to cut corners when we are working in the laboratory?

Several years ago, I was told of an incident in a laboratory that cost the hospital quite a bit of money.  In that lab, supplies were delivered in the same area where bagged regular trash was stored for pick up and disposal.  A box of hematology controls was delivered and not noticed by the staff.  The next day, the unopened box was picked up with the trash and delivered to the landfill.  Before long, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) paid the hospital a visit because blood was found at the landfill when the box of controls was crushed.  The fines today for such a violation in Virginia can be as high as $32,500 per day.

Is your staff careful not to let something like this occur?  Does your staff know that every item with a bio-hazard symbol needs to be thrown out with your regulated medical waste (RMW) or “red bag” trash?  That includes packaging that may contain the symbol. Even unused specimen bags with the symbol need to be discarded that way.  Does staff know how to determine if an item belongs in a sharps container?  My general rule is if it has a sharp edge or point, or if it will break into sharp pieces if jumped on, it belongs in a sharps container.

The opposite problem can occur in labs where they only have red bag trash receptacles or where the staff does not understand proper waste disposal practices.  I often see gloves, disposable lab coats, plastic pipettes, gauze and other paper material in RMW containers or even in sharps containers.  Why is this such a big deal?  At least you won’t be fined, right?  The big deal is the cost and the harm to the environment.

Regulated medical waste (non-sharps) is typically hauled away by a contracted vendor for treatment.  The cost of this disposal varies, but it is around eight times that of regular trash disposal.  Sharps disposal, whether it is incinerated or you are using recycled containers, is even more expensive than non-sharps RMW, and you need to factor in the cost of purchasing the sharps containers.  Throwing out items that do not belong in these receptacles is costly to your company.  The money that could be directed toward new equipment and higher salaries is literally being thrown away.

After treatment, regulated medical waste is typically buried in a landfill designated for bio-hazardous products.  If more non-regulated waste is needlessly treated, we become responsible for filling up these landfills at an unnecessarily fast pace.  If you have trouble convincing your staff to do the right thing because of money, try the environmental angle.

If you are having trash issues in your laboratory, the keys to solving them (as with most safety issues) are education and awareness.  Make sure proper trash disposal is one of your training checklist items for new employees.  Have regular education sessions or reminders about disposal guidelines.  Hang posters in the lab showing proper waste handling.  Make sure the correct waste receptacles are available in the lab, and place them conveniently.  Making non-compliance easier is tantamount to setting the staff up for failure.

Once the staff is educated, you may need to go around the department and audit.  Take a look at what is being thrown away and where.  As a safety officer, it makes sense that you would communicate about the issues you find, but it also makes sense for the lab staff to be able to coach their peers when they see trash not handled properly.  Odd as it may sound, once everyone in the department is talking trash, the environment will be safer and cleaner!