Medical Waste

Top 3 Medical Waste Issues in the United States:

The most common medical waste items include sharps (needles, scalpels), expired and wasted medications, items that carry infectious agents (rags, gauze), body parts, and blood samples (Healthcare Business Today, 2022). Regulated medical waste is defined as a subset of healthcare waste that is contaminated by blood, body fluids, and infectious materials (EPA, 2022). The National Acadamy of Medicine estimated that the U.S. cost for medical waste was 765 billion dollars per year in 2012, which has risen substantially over the past 10 years with increasing healthcare costs and advancements in medicine and technologies (Mnnurses, 2018). Included in the medical waste items are large pieces of equipment and machines such as ultrasound machines, neurosurgery equipment, and many other devices due to the expanding technologies and best practice guidelines (Mnnurses, 2018). There are charities available throughout the country that collect unused supplies and donate them to developing countries which helps address a small amount of unnecessary medical waste (Mnnurses, 2018). The top 3 medical waste issues that have been discussed throughout studies are air/water/soil pollution from waste, astronomical financial expenses, and potential hazards to individuals trained to handle, store and dispose of medical waste.

Current National and Local Regulations and Policies Regarding Medical Waste:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) no longer has complete authority to regulate medical waste since the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA) of 1988 expired in 1991, and now the regulation is primarily led by the state and health departments (EPA, 2022). The state of Michigan's regulation for medical waste is enforced by the Medical Waste Regulatory Program (MWRP), aligned with the Michigan Medical Waste Regulatory Act (MWRA) which is part 138 of public health code 1978 PA368 (State of Michigan, n.d.). MWRP's main objective is to protect individuals that come into contact with medical waste from risk of injury, infection, or disease due to improper disposal of medical waste (State of Michigan, n.d.). MWRA controls the mandates for facilities that produce medical waste (State of Michigan, n.d.). Under the MWRA, facilities that produce medical waste must be compliant and registered and must adhere to strict governing regulations on how the waste is accumulated, stored, and disposed of (State of Michigan, n.d.). Each registered medical waste producer in Michigan has a site-specific plan to manage medical waste requiring a documented list and description of the type of waste including specifications for proper handling (EPA, 2022). All medical waste must be sent to permitted locations for disposal every 90 days, and sites must retain records verifying the shipments with dates labeled on the containers specifying when the container was first used until the date it gets sealed for shipment (EPA, 2022). Records must be kept of employee education and training for handling medical waste (EPA, 2022). All containers need to be compatible with the specific waste, they need to be properly stored during usage and properly labeled as biohazard (EPA, 2022). Waste Incinerator standards are reviewed and revised by EPA's office of Air Quality Planning Standards to reduce and minimize any pollution related to medical waste (EPA, 2022).

AP News. (2020). Storage medical waste [Photograph]. AP News. 2313.jpeg (2313×1431) (storage.googleapis.com)

EPA. (2022). Medical Waste. Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.epa.gov/rcra/medical-waste

Healthcare Business Today. (2022). The importance of proper medical waste disposal. Healthcare Business Today. https://www.healthcarebusinesstoday.com/the-importance-of-proper-medical-waste-disposal/#:~:text=Across%20all%20types%20of%20medical%20practices%2C%20some%20of,rags%2C%20etc.%29%204%20Body%20parts%205%20Blood%20samples

Mnnurses. (2018). Medical waste and the rising cost of healthcare. Minnesota Nurses Association. https://mnnurses.org/medical-waste-rising-cost-healthcare/

State of Michigan. (n.d.). Medical Waste Regulatory information. SOM. https://www.michigan.gov/egle/about/organization/materials-management/medical-waste-regulatory-program

The New Indian Express. (2017). Biomedical waste. [Photograph]. The New Indian Express. https://www.newindianexpress.com/