In the healthcare industry, how your facilities manage their medical waste is crucial not only for compliance but also for the safety of your patients, staff and the environment.
Hospitals generate a significant amount of medical waste, from sharps and pharmaceuticals to biohazardous materials. Research shows that a single hospital bed produces a whopping 33 pounds of waste each day in the United States.
While much of that waste is often considered non-hazardous (food waste, paper waste and other general waste), some of it is highly toxic medical waste that requires specialized disposal.
Choosing the right medical waste disposal partner is crucial for ensuring that this waste is handled safely and efficiently. Whether you’re a hospital system that operates several healthcare facilities or a single medical facility, here’s why you need to prioritize finding the right disposal partner.
Medical Facilities Generate Many Types Of Waste
Facilities like hospitals generate a wide variety of medical waste types. While the vast majority is nonhazardous (85%, according to the National Institutes of Health), the other 15% must be disposed of safely and according to a higher standard.
Examples of hospital waste types that may be hazardous include:
- Sharps waste
- Biohazardous waste
- Pharmaceutical waste
- Pathological waste
- Chemical waste
- Radioactive waste
While it’s easy to think that an all-encompassing hazardous waste disposal company can handle all of the above, since each type of waste has its own hazardous properties, that’s not true.
Not all hazardous waste transporters can legally transport your regulated medical waste (even if that medical waste is considered hazardous.) And not all medical waste transporters can transport every type of medical waste.
For example, here are some common types of waste that medical facilities produce and what type of transporter is legally allowed to move it to a treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF):
- Infectious waste: Regulated Medical Waste Transporter
- Pharmaceutical waste: Regulated Medical Waste Transporter or Hazardous Waste Transporter, depending on the type of pharmaceutical waste that requires disposal
- Radioactive waste: Specialized Hazardous Waste Transporter
- Chemical waste: Hazardous Waste Transporter
- Sharps waste: Regulated Medical Waste Transporter
- Pathological waste: Regulated Medical Waste Transporter
- Pharmaceutical trace waste: Regulated Medical Waste Transporter, and/or Hazardous Waste Transporter depending on the type of pharmaceuticals
- Solid waste: Depends on the type of solid waste that requires disposal
- Electronic waste: Universal Waste Transporter
Properly identifying and managing these different waste streams is key to understanding what type of disposal company you need for your facility or facilities. If you generate multiple streams - as most hospitals do - you’ll need a transportation company that can safely and legally handle all of them.
Key tip: If you generate biomedical waste, the transporter must be licensed to transport biomedical waste through the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
Efficiency Benefits Your Entire Waste Management Process
Partnering with a single, effective medical waste disposal company can optimize your entire waste management process, from collection to disposal. This streamlined approach reduces the time and resources hospitals need to dedicate to medical waste management, making operations more efficient and less burdensome for your staff.
A well-managed disposal service can lead to significant cost savings. By centralizing waste management and reducing the risk of non-compliance fines, a single disposal partner can help hospitals lower their overall waste management costs. Efficient processes mean fewer errors and less risk of costly regulatory infractions.
Effective waste management frees up valuable hospital resources as well. With a reliable disposal partner handling all aspects of waste, hospital staff can focus more on patient care and other critical functions. This reallocation of resources improves overall operational efficiency, allowing the hospital to better serve its patients and meet its healthcare goals.
Accountability And Transparency Help Your Entire Hospital
In the healthcare industry, accountability is critical. Accurate tracking and reporting are essential in many areas of a hospital, from patient care to inventory management and billing processes. Accountability is also important in how a hospital manages its waste.
Hospitals must have detailed documentation of the types, quantities and disposal methods of their medical waste to ensure that every piece is handled appropriately.
A reputable medical waste disposal partner provides comprehensive and precise tracking and reporting. This includes maintaining logs of waste collection, transportation and disposal, as well as generating regular reports that outline these processes.
This documentation is needed for internal audits, regulatory compliance, and ensuring that all waste is managed responsibly. Detailed records also enable hospitals to trace the path of their waste, providing assurance that it has been disposed of in accordance with all legal and environmental standards.
Hospitals are frequently subject to audits and inspections by regulatory bodies to verify proper waste management practices as well. These evaluations ensure that hospitals comply with local, state and federal regulations and that they maintain safe waste disposal procedures.
A trusted disposal partner plays a vital role in preparing for these audits and inspections. By maintaining thorough and organized records, your partner can provide all necessary documentation quickly and accurately, demonstrating compliance and transparency. This preparedness not only facilitates a smooth audit process but also enhances the hospital’s credibility and trustworthiness.
In the healthcare industry, how your facilities manage their medical waste is crucial not only for compliance but also for the safety of your patients, staff and the environment.