Pharmaceutical waste management is surrounded by an intriguing complexity, starting with the important challenge of leaving waterways clean for our descendants and ending with the multifaceted conflicting regulation. Pharmacies must take care of all these conflicts so as to stay away from significant fees and stick to compliant practices. That is why, in the last years, these institutions have been increasingly more committed to applying waste management regulations.

Increasing resources are the best signs that reflect this dedication. Thus, pharmacies have enhanced the staff training, the budget allocation, and the equipment purchases that improve disposal methods. There are numerous companies that have tracked these trends through various surveys. The results were published on their sites and they are public. Other aspects that were monitored were waste practices within the national hospitals.

Recently, a new survey has revealed the fact that the hospitals’ waste practices are compliant. Still, there are few medical institutions that manage these RCRA-hazardous products in a proper way. Despite this fact, trends are positive and more and more facilities have declared that they’re going to adopt these rules. Even though times were difficult because of the numerous financial challenges, pharmacies have tried to abide by the waste management regulations. Thus, in the following years, the experts are expecting even more facilities to use these compliant

practices.

Dual waste requirements are quite challenging. Thus, there are situations when a product is controlled and hazardous at the same time. In this case, the pharmacy doesn’t know exactly how to manage this kind of waste. Numerous pharmacy directors mentioned that their only solution was to throw these items down the drain. This way, they would make the controlled product unrecoverable and they would stick to the DEA requirements. This position is quite inaccurate because the DEA says that sewering the substance does not really mean making it unrecoverable. Actually, some states such as Washington, California, and Florida, are against dumping this type of waste in the sewer system. Moreover, numerous health systems were fined by the EPA for throwing the hazardous pharmaceuticals through the drain.

Thus, it seems that the only viable solution to this problem is to not generate waste. In order to achieve this goal, the ordering practices must be reviewed. As a result, waste generation will be considerably reduced. For instance, pharmacies could change their priorities to the better. These facilities could order only morphine sulfate vials of the size that is most commonly demanded. In this case, the initial product price must not be a priority. The first alternative will reduce the resultant waste and will increase the budget. If the purchasing decision includes the waste cost, the just-in-time inventory and the decision to buy smaller vials will be apparent.

Pharmacies are strongly convinced that it’s extremely hazardous to manage dual wastes. More and more facilities are choosing to use RCR- hazardous containers for disposing substances like chloral hydrate waste. The morphine sulfate waste disposal is not currently that widespread, but in the future the trend will become much more popular.

Safety Must Come First

The proper disposal of medical wastes is a problem that relates to public safety. In particular, the safe disposal of needles and other sharp objects in this category of waste is needed to prevent injury and the spread of disease and infection. Waste workers must take care while working around such material in order to insure that they are not stuck with a needle. Such an event can lead to the transmission of a serious disease such as HIV or hepatitis.

Problems can also result when containers holding dangerous materials break open. Such contaminants may injure or sicken janitors, garbage truck drivers, and other workers who are involved in the elimination of such materials.

People who must inject themselves frequently for whatever reason are advised to take steps to insure that their discarded needles do not result in injury to others. They may take their discards to approved disposal sites. Doctors’ offices, medical clinics, and hospitals have these sort of officially sanctioned waste containers that can not be penetrated by needles or other sharp objects such as broken glass. Pharmacists and other health care professionals can advise people as to the locations of these sites. There is often no cost, or the fee will be nominal.

Several manufacturers offer devices that render needles harmless through melting or clipping. The Coalition for Safe Community Needle Disposal provides information on this subject at (800) 643-1643.

Stay Safe with Securr

Securr Corporation has a number of containers designed to hold these sorts of medical wastes. The full line of their products may be seen online at http://trash-cans.com. They have containers designed both for indoor and outdoor use.

Securr containers for medical waste are constructed of galvanealed steel which makes them durable, corrosion resistant, and puncture proof by needles or shards of glass. It also gives them an attractive appearance suitable for office settings. The chute like loading apparatus means that items can be disposed of safely and prevents anyone from reaching in and perhaps injuring themselves through contact with the contents. A key is required to unlock the door for disposal. The content will be held in a sturdy plastic liner suitable for transport to an authorized disposal site.

Customers who are unsure exactly what product would be right for their disposal needs should call Securr at 1-888-671-7066. They have experts standing by to help in such requests. Whatever product is selected will be made of materials designed both to last and look attractive. Securr takes pride in having a product line that is durable and affordable. In the area of medical waste, it pays to make sure that you are using containers that provide the highest levels of protection.

Dangerous Tossed Items

Most American households have a supply of old prescription drugs lying unused.  The symptoms they were used to treat may have long vanished, but the bottles are retained just in case.  Many medicines though have limited life spans.  If they are not used by a certain date, they will not be fully effective.  Simply tossing them into the trash as one would for any item that goes into the garbage is not a responsible method for disposal when the drugs contain dangerous chemicals.  Every year the amount of drugs that fall into this sort of category grows by around 200 million pounds.  It amounts to a considerable hoard.

This growing pile can endanger children and others who may be interested in sampling something out of that bottle of pills they came across.  Simply flushing them down the toilet is not a good option either.  It puts what may be dangerous chemicals into the waste stream where they may end up polluting rivers or coastal waters.  These chemicals can work their way up the food chain becoming more concentrated at every step.  By the time, they reach the sort of fish we eat; the concentration can be high enough to be of concern.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has been conduction nationwide collection since 2010.  Results from the last one recorder were a whopping 500,000 pounds of drugs to discard.

Trash may be the Best Disposal

Despite the success of the DEA’s collection efforts, analysts feel trash disposal by residents the most efficient means of disposal.  The incineration the DEA employs to get rid of its collection is the most thorough method for eliminating dangerous chemicals from the environment, but the high temperatures required make it a big energy consumer.  Energy is also needed to get the person making the disposal to the collection site.

The EPA has issued guidelines for how people should put their unused medicines in the trash.

This is seen as the most realistic method for disposal. Swedenwhich has long had collection programs has determined that over the long haul, they only end up netting around forty per cent of the unused medicines.  They learned that the chances for the drugs making their way into the environment were about the same using the collection methodology as it was for having everyone just throw them away at home.  There was far less energy used in home throw away however.

On the other hand, it has been suggested that many people would never get around to throwing their drugs away were it not for collection programs.  They serve as a prompt for people to clean out their medicine cabinets.

There are trade offs to be considered in either case.  With home disposal though, there is no need to wait for the collection date to come around.  One simply tosses the item the moment it is decided that the time has come to clear out the medicine chest.

Is the collection and disposal of red bag medical waste costing you more than it should?  Proper and effective handling and disposal of “Red Bag” medical waste is not only essential to the safety of patients and staff, but also can save the hospital, nursing home or other medical facility thousands of dollars in unnecessary disposal costs of non bio-hazardous medical waste. At Securr, we understand the needs of medical facilities to properly collect, safely contain and effectively dispose of red bag medical waste, sharps and bio-hazardous material.

Many hospitals routinely throw from 50-70% of their waste into the bio-hazardous waste stream, although a large percentage of hospital or medical facility waste is very similar to that of an office building.  It consists mostly of paper, cardboard and food waste that does not require Red Bag disposal guidelines. Hospitals often pay up to 10 times as much to dispose of infectious versus solid waste so effective segregation and disposal in proper containers is essential.

Staff Education Regarding Red Bag Medical Waste

Education and understanding of what constitutes hazardous red bag medical waste is the first step in an effective Medical Waste Reduction Plan (MWRP). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggests that only 2-3% of hospital medical waste truly needs to be disposed of as infectious Red Bag hazardous materials.  Medical facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by implementing a comprehensive Medical Waste Reduction Plan and improving their waste segregation and disposal.  Case studies have shown that proper education and medical facility policy can realistically decrease red bag waste to a mere 6-10% of their waste stream.

OSHA’s Definition of Regulated Red Bag Medical Waste

Regulated medical waste that requires proper red bag medical waste disposal includes liquid or semi-liquid blood or other potentially infectious materials (defined below); contaminated items that would release blood or other potentially infectious materials in a liquid or semi-liquid state if compressed; items that are caked with dried blood or other potentially infectious materials and are capable of releasing these materials during handling; contaminated sharps; and pathological and microbiological wastes containing blood or other potentially infectious materials.

To learn more about red bag trash and what should be included in a proper Medical Waste Reduction Plan go to www.epa.gov/epaoswer/other/medical/index.htm

How Much Red Bag Medical Waste Are You Generating?

First you need to understand how much actual red bag medical waste you are generating, the costs of proper handling and disposal. Medical industry guidelines recommend that only 6-15% of your total waste should be going into red bag hazardous medical waste containers.

You need to determine what portion of your waste is currently being disposed of into red bag medical waste containers. This will help you identify how much of an opportunity you have to reduce your volume and your medical waste disposal costs. Work you’re your waste hauling service provider or track invoices to determine if your red bag medical waste disposal costs fall within industry guidelines.

What are Your Red Bag Medical Waste Disposal Costs and Potential Savings?

Understanding your total medical waste disposal costs and your opportunities for cost savings is a powerful tool that needs to be quantified and shared with management and staff.  Their involvement will not only reduce costs, savings, but can also improve
employee awareness and morale, improve overall facility safety, along with having a positive impact on the environment and community relations.
Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, implemented

An Effective Red Bag Medical Waste Segregation Strategy

Proper staff access to both red bag medical waste disposal units, as well as regular waste and trash disposal and recycling systems is the first step in a proper waste segregation strategy and red bag medical waste reduction effort. Provide the proper disposal units for employees to easily implement waste segregation. Once you make it easy for staff to properly segregate waste, you will end up with less misplaced waste in your red bags.

Proper Medical Waste Container Placement and Signage

Proper container placement and signage is essential to the success of any waste segregation strategy and reduction in your red bag medical waste levels.  Work with your nursing and medical support staff to identify the proper placement of your medical waste, trash and recycling receptacles.

Utilizing the proper, specially designed red bag medical waste disposal containers that include the proper signage, bio-hazard label as well as other applicable labeling, provides instructions and on-the-spot education to help reduce solid waste that is casually tossed in my the medical staff out of convenience rather than necesity.  Having additional non medical waste collection receptables near by is also important.

Utilizing the Right Medical Waste Collection and Disposal System

The right red bag medical waste collection system is an essential part of any waste segregation and cost saving strategy.  The Securr Red Bag Medical Waste collection and disposal system provides your facility with a safe a secure solution to the handling of sharps and medical waste.  Securr medical waste disposal receptacles are heavy duty, ADA compliant products that are a great choice where aesthetics and durability are key. Using a “chute” type loading door, contents are secure and cannot be removed unless the service door is unlocked.

Inside the heavy-gauge steel enclosure is a regulated medical waste liner with lid that can be removed and transported safely and securely.
For more information on a Securr Solution to handle red bag medical waste as well as all of your trash and recyclable disposal needs go to www.securr.com