Medical Waste, A Call to Action for Health Care. Find out why incineration is harmful and about better alternatives for medical waste treatment. enlarge video
This eye-opening video looks at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, and the connections between environmental and social issues. Translated into eleven languages. view it now
Tools and Resources
- What's Wrong with Incineration
- How to Shut Down an Incinerator
- Non-Incineration Medical Waste Treatment
- Tools for Waste Handlers
- Waste Audit Self-Assessment Tool
- Stericycle: News and Reports
- News Stories about Incinerator Victories
- Additional Resources
What's Wrong with Incineration
Fact Sheets
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How to Shut Down an Incinerator
A Complete Tool Kit for Community Activists (pdf)
Non-Incineration Medical Waste Treatment
Reports
- Global Inventory of Alternative Technologies, June 2007 (pdf). A global listing of non-burn technologies for the treatment of infectious wastes.
- Alternative Technologies Report: This 2001 report from HCWH compares 50 technologies for treating and disinfecting medical waste. The report concludes that there are viable, cost-effective alternatives to incineration that are safer, cleaner, do not produce dioxin, and are just as effective at disinfecting medical waste. (pdf)
Fact Sheet
Evaluating Non-Incineration Alternatives: A tool for health care staff and concerned community members, May 2000 (pdf)
Innovative technologies
Medwaste Treatment: HCWH contest results and free public-domain design ideas for innovative technologies to treat medical waste in rural areas. (pdf)
Tools for Waste Handlers
Fact Sheets
- Waste Minimization, Segregation and Recycling in Hospitals (pdf)
- 10 Ways to Reduce Regulated Medical Wastes (pdf)
- Guidelines for Optimizing Waste Segregation (pdf)
- Disposables and Their Alternatives (pdf)
- Reach for Unbleached Paper (pdf)
- Recycling Fact Sheet (pdf)
- Waste Minimization Resources (pdf)
White Papers
- Reprocessing Single-use Medical Devices (pdf), proceedings from the Setting Healthcare's Environmental Agenda conference, October 16, 2000
- Waste Management (pdf), proceedings from the Setting Healthcare's Environmental Agenda conference, October 16, 2000.
For more information on waste treatment technologies and alternatives to the dangerous practice of incineration, see Alternatives to Incineration.
Waste Audit Self-Assessment Tool
Created by Hospitals for a Healthy Environment to help health care facilities assess their environmental program's status and develop goals and action plans to reduce waste, eliminate the use of mercury, and reduce other types of health care related pollution. Download the tool.
Stericycle: News and Reports
Stericycle Inc. is the largest medical waste treatment and disposal company in the United States, and a growing global presence. Although the company's mission is "to be the leading company dedicated to the environmentally responsible management of infection control and compliance services for the health care community," it continues to incinerate medical waste at the six U.S. facilities it owns.
Reports and Factsheets about Stericycle
- Stericycle: Living up to its mission? 2002 (pdf)
- Stericycle Report Card Update: 2003 (pdf)
- Stericycle Investors Tip Sheet (pdf)
- Stericycle's Incineration Capacity (pdf)
- 5 Recommendations for Stericycle (pdf)
News Stories about Stericycle
- North Salt Lake residents concerned over incinerator stacks, Ogden Standard-Examiner (pdf)
- It's up in the air, Times-News (pdf)
- NSL burn plant comes under fire,
Davis County Clipper (pdf) - Petition turns up heat on burn plant,
Deseret Morning News (pdf) - Maine Dumps Stericycle, Waste News (pdf)
- Editorial, Waste News (pdf)
- Medical Waste Site Sought, Maine Sunday Telegram (pdf)
- DEP fines medical waste company nearly $225,000,
The Reporter (pdf)
News Stories about Incinerator Victories
- Last major medical waste incinerator in Michigan to close
- Chicago Tribune Editorial: Snuffing the last incinerators
- Illinois Gov. calls on state's medical incinerators to close
- Millions vaccinated in Phillippines with no syringes burned
- Ireland to treat all medical waste with non-incineration technologies
- St. Louis mayor signs bill to stop medwaste incineration
- Controversial incinerator in Gila River Indian Community Reservation closed
- Last medical waste incinerator in California closed
Additional Resources
- Join Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is a nonprofit membership organization founded on the principles of positive environmental stewardship and best practices by organizations in the healthcare community. www.practicegreenhealth.org - The GEF Project
We are collaborating with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme on a Global Environment Facility funded project to reduce environmental releases of dioxins and mercury by demonstrating and promoting best techniques and practices for reducing and managing health care waste in urban and rural settings in seven countries. - Immunization Waste
Today it is still standard practice for international agencies carrying out immunization campaigns to instruct their field operations managers to burn the sharps and PVC syringes onsite. Ironically, while these all important immunization initiatives may be safeguarding public health in the short-term, in the long run they are creating potential public health problems through the inadequate disposal of their waste. In 2004 HCWH, in collaboration with the Philippine Department of Health, HCWH demonstrated that immunization waste can be disposed of safely, cheaply and in an environmentally sound fashion without the use of incinerators. - WasteMed
WasteMEd is an on-line resource for medical waste regulations, storage, treatment, and disposal. - Hospital Waste Prevention Tips
A department-by-department list of tips to reduce waste developed by the NYC WasteLe$$ Program. - Med Waste Treatment Contest
An international competition for innovative technologies for the treatment of medical waste in rural areas - Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance
- Ban the Burn
