Medicines are an important part of healthcare services to help patients recover effectively from illness and better manage chronic diseases. A key component of safe drug treatment is appropriate waste management. This critical and complex activity is subject to strict and sometimes confusing requirements.

What is pharmaceutical waste?

Pharmaceutical waste is any surplus, unused or expired drug that is no longer needed or can no longer be used. They can be classified as harmful or harmless based on their chemical properties and their risk to humans and the environment. There are different requirements for the disposal of harmful and non-harmful drugs.

What are the risks of improper disposal of pharmaceutical waste?

If an organization does not dispose of drugs properly, dangerous chemicals can seep into the surrounding environment and contaminate groundwater, drinking water, plant life, etc. Ultimately, this can lead to health problems in the community. Incorrect disposal methods may include flushing drugs down the sink, flushing them down the toilet, throwing them in a regular trash can or mixing hazardous pharmaceutical waste with non-hazardous pharmaceutical waste. Most pharmaceutical chemicals are not removed from wastewater and tend to enter the aquatic environment through sewage systems. This sometimes continues to affect water supplies, Marine animals, and can cause harm to humans through the food chain.

How do medical facilities disposal of pharmaceutical waste?

It is the responsibility of medical personnel, inter alia, to maintain a clean working environment and to reduce waste from the handling of dangerous drugs and medical procedures (e.g., expired vaccines and cell culture dishes). Therefore, every medical facility must have some kind of pharmaceutical waste management process.

The first step in this process is isolation and storage. Any and all hazardous waste must be sorted into special, color-coded containers and stored away from patients. Because of the risk of contamination, it must not be treated like ordinary waste. Sharp, dangerous pharmaceutical waste can easily puncture ordinary garbage bags, cut or stab skin, and spread infections. Dumping them in sewers is even worse, as they can spread viral infections to the facades of facilities and endanger the environment.

Most medical facilities contact external licensing services to handle shipments of hazardous pharmaceutical waste, and they still need to be very careful because waste is still considered potentially infectious until it is destroyed. Final disposal is usually carried out in an incinerator.

How to use medical shredder sterilizer to disposal of pharmaceutical waste?

MCDS-80 Medical 80 Liter Waste Integrated Autoclave with Shredder Steam Sterilizer provides medical-grade sterilization for treatment and safe destruction like petri dishes and cell culture dishes. Specimen containers, vaccine rolling vials pharmaceutical waste, and, of course, expired vaccines. It combines the effectiveness of the steam sterilization process used in autoclaves with the undisputed power of high-tech medical waste shredders.

This means that pharmaceutical wastes such as empty vaccine bottles are completely destroyed inside the Shredder sterilizer machine and sterilized in high-pressure and high-temperature environments. The load will then be dried, reducing mass, and without any potentially dangerous foreign matter: you will be able to dispose of it like normal garbage! As all waste is handled in one container, there is no risk of cross-contamination. Not to mention that the process is completely automated and the machine is incredibly easy to use.

It is also equipped with extra security measures to prevent staff from opening the shredder sterilizer door while the internal temperature is still too hot. This is important because it uses steam at more than 100 degrees Celsius.

Furthermore, the Shredder Sterilizer is also highly customizable, so whether you are a small clinic or a large hospital you can choose the model best suited to your needs: capacities range from 25 litres all the way up to 1200 litres.