Should the UK Rethink Medical Waste Handling Following Ebola Outbreak?

Following the deadly Ebola outbreak in Africa, PyroPure’s Peter Selkirk explains why the UK should treat the development of on-site medical waste disposal technology as a priority. The UK is woefully underprepared when it comes to hazardous waste disposal in high-risk environments and too reliant on out-dated procedures that leave those responsible for waste collection vulnerable and open to infection. Whilst Ebola represents a small risk to the UK, the healthcare sector and industries responsible for managing high-risk waste should re-evaluate the way in which they dispose of it in order to significantly boost infection control and reduce the chances of contamination. Whilst a widespread UK outbreak of Ebola remains unlikely, the devastation it has caused in West Africa should provide a wakeup call. It is too risky to continue the outdated practices of storage of infected hospital waste and its transportation over the highways to incinerators. There are a number of ‘touch points’ through the cradle to grave waste disposal chain where manual handling poses a risk. A report by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) confirms that thousands of people continue to die unnecessarily from hospital-acquired infections and that healthcare associated infections are estimated to cost the NHS approximately £1 billion per year. The UK must adopt a smarter approach to the way in which it manages clinical waste; one that not only reduces risks and incidents of infection but also processes that doesn’t leave anything to chance. Peter Selkirk is executive chairman at UK based small scale on-site medical waste pyrolysis system technology developer, PyroPure. The company recently received funding from the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, to develop its technology. (See WMW story) Read More On-Site Gasification of Offensive Waste With the cost of collecting and treating offensive/hygiene waste continuing to rise for nursing and care homes PyroPure has developed a small scale system that uses both pyrolysis and gasification to recover energy from biowastes. Residues from the freezer sized machine are flushed into the sewage system. WMW takes a look at the technology. Report: Waste to Energy Technology Could Cut Pollution from Canadian Cement Industry Canadian environmental charity, Pollution Probe, has published research which suggests that the recovery of energy from waste using would have positive environmental and economic impacts across Ontario’s cement sector. Routes to Compliant IT Asset Disposal and Recycling Much of the e-waste disposed of each year still contains personal and corporate data. The Stone Group’s Martin Ruston offers guidance on ensuring those assets properly and securely disposed…