Healthcare facilities generate significant volumes of waste. A report on 110 Canadian hospitals found that they generated almost 87,000 tons of waste annually, including needles from routine vaccinations, tissue removed during surgeries, trace chemicals from IV lines, and supplies contaminated during patient care.
A portion of this waste is considered biomedical or infectious—waste known or reasonably expected to contain a pathogen, including a waste or reusable material derived from the medical treatment of an animal or human, which includes diagnosis and immunization, or from biomedical research, which includes the production and testing of biological products. These wastes, such as items saturated with blood, contaminated sharps, non-hazardous pharmaceuticals, cytotoxic, and anatomical wastes require specialized treatment via autoclave or incineration.
While healthcare administrators often concentrate on internal waste handling—like proper disposal procedures and scheduled pickups—it is equally critical to understand the treatment process that occurs after medical waste leaves the facility. As good environmental stewards, healthcare organizations should understand how medical waste is treated outside their facility and verify that their partners meet applicable requirements to reduce risk and protect their reputation.
What happens after medical waste is collected?
After pickup, medical waste must be treated before final disposal, so it can be safely sent to a landfill or waste-to-energy facility.
There are two primary methods for treating waste:
- Autoclaving: As the most widely used treatment method, autoclaving involves exposing medical waste and sharps to high-pressure steam at controlled temperatures for a specific duration. This process effectively destroys pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, making the waste non-infectious prior to disposal.
- Incineration: Medical waste designated for incineration is subjected to extremely high temperatures, which reduce it to ash. The resulting ash is then sent to a landfill. According to waste acceptance policies, certain waste types—like anatomical waste, non-hazardous pharmaceuticals, and cytotoxic waste—must be properly segregated and incinerated to ensure they are destroyed in a compliant manner.
Why proper segregation and having a plan matter
Not all waste generated in healthcare settings should enter the regulated medical waste stream. Hazardous wastes such as organic solvents and laboratory chemicals, and radioactive wastes must never be mixed with regulated medical waste – they require specialized handling, treatment, and disposal pathways.
To effectively manage the diverse types of waste produced, healthcare facilities should establish a comprehensive waste management plan. This plan should clearly outline how different waste categories will be segregated and processed. The benefits of proper waste segregation include:
- Personnel Safety: Medical waste segregation into appropriate containers is crucial for helping to promote safe work environments for frontline healthcare workers, as it helps reduce the risk of injury or exposure to bloodborne pathogens.
- Regulatory Compliance: Applicable laws often require medical waste segregation – both segregating medical waste from other non-infectious waste and segregating certain types of medical waste (like anatomical waste or sharps waste) from each other. Establishing and training staff on a medical waste segregation program can help healthcare organizations avoid enforcement or other legal action. Waste segregation can be challenging, but partnering with a knowledgeable waste management provider can help you establish an appropriate process.
- Comply with Disposal Vendor’s Waste Acceptance Policies: Waste Acceptance Policies (WAPs) are a waste vendor’s requirements outlining what it will and will not accept, and under what conditions. Healthcare facilities need to ensure that WAPs from all of their waste vendors are shared with those within the organization that are responsible for waste management.
Choosing a knowledgeable, compliant partner
A knowledgeable waste management partner is key to ensuring that medical waste is properly treated and disposed of after it leaves the facility. A strong partner must be well-versed in Transport Canada’s requirements for packaging, marking and labelling, shipping papers, and hazmat employee training to ensure compliant transport from your site to the treatment facility.
Additionally, your waste management provider should be well-versed in other regulatory bodies that oversee the disposal of biomedical waste. For instance, through the Environmental Protection Act, the Ministry of the Environment regulates biomedical waste stating the waste must be properly segregated and handled to prevent contaminates from entering the environment.
Other governing bodies include, Health Canada, Environment Canada, Provincial Environment Ministries, Canada Labour Code, and Provincial Labour Ministries. While some requirements overlap, there are variances between local, provincial, and federal regulations.
At Stericycle, we offer comprehensive waste management services, including autoclaving and incineration. We can help you understand regulations and set up programs that help ensure compliance. Learn more about Stericycle’s comprehensive medical waste solutions and how they can effectively help your healthcare facility with its medical waste treatment.
This article is for general information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances.
