The Relationship Between Landfilling And Incineration On Environmental Health

Hospital waste is one of the world’s growing problems. Hospitals on average produce 29 pounds of waste per staffed bed in just one day (2016). One of the reasons for medical waste is that a large amount disposable products used for sanitary reasons such as drapes, basins, and sponges (Conrardy J et al, 2009). However, new methods using reusable products in operating rooms have provided a means to decrease the regulated medical waste generated by an average of 65% (Conrardy J et al, 2009). Even if the hospital bureaucracy is unconcerned with the environment. These changes reduce the cost of waste disposal (Conrardy J et al, 2009). On the social side of progress, nonprofits like Practice Greenhealth provide sources for environmental solutions for the health care sector. At the hospital’s request, they can send information packets to help inform hospital staff on more environmental purchases such as the “Less Waste member-only toolkit”

Assessments began to take place in the mid 1980’s, shortly after the site made the National Priorities list in 1983. Relevant standards and guidance levels were used to measure the effect of the Helen Kramer Landfill. The initiation of the EPA’s remedial investigation and feasibility study deemed the nature of the Helen Kramer landfill as an extreme risk to the environment, characterizing the site “by randomly placed, uncompacted, and uncovered refuse, with numerous settlement cracks which vented methane and water vapor” (2). According to the EPA, several million gallons of chemical wastes and over two million cubic yards of solid waste were estimated to have been disposed of at the landfill (2). Studies were performed by the EPA, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, federal natural resource trustees in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to evaluate the onsite and nearby environmental effects due to the landfill. During these studies, contaminants were detected in air, sediments, and aquifers, including high levels of volatile organic compounds and heavy metals in the air and sediments. VOCS and heavy metals expose humans to carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and reproductive toxicants. The assessments also detected numerous contaminants such as (but not limited to),

In this assignment I will be comparing the effectiveness of 3 organisational approaches to national or international environmental health issue.

Superfund incinerator sites utilize controlled flame combustion to thermally destroy hazardous wastes. This is an effective method to clean up deserted or inactive hazardous waste sites and remedy environment preservation. The involvement of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) is to evaluate superfund incinerator facilities health and safety programs.

The organizations which work best in this area are able to make use of their or resources in a way that they do not waste any of their resources and make use of those that van be recycled. The optimal model of this is when Fred Hollows and The Eye Doctors are using renewable energy in their facilities and they are using reusable equipment when possible given that they are disinfected properly after use.

Air pollution have become a problem in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia due to garbage burning. In every corner, most especially in the capital city suburb of Paynesville, Heaps of household along with industrial rubbish are piled up in Monrovia, and are not always being collected by the companies paid by the World Bank to collect this undesirable waste. The goal of the World Bank was stated clearly in 2009 to the sanitation companies, i.e. Collection of waste and disposal will be increased to 45% in Monrovia 's and it’s environ on a daily basis since December 2013, which is an increase of 15% points from the year 2009. However, it never works the way it was anticipated by the world bank.

All of the hospital facilities and clinics in the area have localized independently standing incineration facilities on their premises, or are under mandatory regulations to properly sort and store Medical Waste until their chemical release into the atmosphere though the process of incineration. According to Glasser, Chang and Hickman, (1991), a government sponsored series of emissions analyses took place at eight predetermined Biomedical Waste Incineration Facilities in the state of California. The research analysis indicated a statistically significant release of certain potentially toxic metal compounds, polychlorinated dioxins and , furin oncogenes which even combusted will remain potentially toxic due to bioaccumulation occurring faster than decay and their simultaneous accumulation in the smoke stacks of the main incineration areas. The accumulations were less alarming than the indications of bioaccumulation at certain points of the incineration mechanisms, This study and all subsequent studies can prove to be invaluable in the process of refining the current state of Medical Waste Incineration and serves as a reminder to current operating medical facilities that with an upsurge in medical diagnosis and treatment comes the need for constant testing and evaluations of any potential toxins that can be created in the incineration process, and how to combat these instances. Due to a significant result of Cr+6 emissions, (Glasser, Chang and

High temperature is needed for proper management of infectious waste. This combustion of various health waste leaves harmful compounds such as gaseous and wastewater (Lee & Huffman, 1996). Air pollution resulting from the use of these incineration units can affects the air quality of the surrounding community (Lee & Huffman, 1996). The environmental impact of infectious waste and related waste management processes cause added health burden. These effects take the form of a vicious circle that would continue until sound environmental and ethical waste management systems are

These include the public who are at risk of infection and environmental degradation as a result of the dumping of the medical waste in the landfill. The second stakeholders affected by the case are the company employees. The company risks closure, which would mean losing their jobs in the event that the Environmental Protection Agency notices the violation. The third

Most people don’t realize that piles of trash aren’t the thing wrong with landfills. There are many other issues with it too. Toxins, leachate and greenhouse gases are three components from landfills that can harm the environment. Many of the materials that end up in landfills contain toxic substances. Over the years, these toxins seep into the soil and groundwater, becoming environmental hazards for years. Electronic waste such as televisions and computers contain a lot of hazardous substances that include mercury, acids and lead.

In some parts of the world, human waste is being used as agricultural fertilizer and it is known as biosolids. We have biosolids due to the wastewater treatment process. There are many advantages and disadvantages to the use of biosolids, however, I believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Biosolids create job opportunities, promote farming, is free and is a cost effective of disposal. Using biosolids can cause odours in the area and may affect health as well. Although biosolids can cause odour problems, farmers see it as a free source of fertilizer. It helps produce ample crops. Creating biosolids is a form of recycling which prevents humans from dumping it in landfills. Biosolids have been

Discarded as rubbish in a landfill after sanitized of toxic materials by approved service provider

The ozone layer is depleting, temperatures are rising, and animals are dying off. There are many problems striking the world today, and the amount of waste that is produced every day has an effect on everything listed above. When thinking about a large producer of waste, a hospital should immediately come to mind. Hospitals produce unimaginable amounts of waste, and the top producer within a hospital is operating rooms (NHPR). Landfills are become more scarce every day as they fill up with more and more waste. The environment is being effected tremendously from the excess amount of medical waste that is thrown out, and there has to be a change. To better understand the effects of medical waste, there must be a clear understanding of the types of waste that exist, how to properly decontaminate and dispose of this waste, and learn of ways that communities and organizations can effectively help reduce the amount of waste or limit the amount that is thrown away.

Congress passed The Solid Waste Disposal Act in 1965. The Agency of Environmental Safety considered this Act as the primary effort made by federal authority for efficient waste clearance technology. This act controls the dumping material; manage storage and management of solid, both and non-precarious and precarious wastage. It highlights the processes that are environmentally liable to dispose waste at the commercial, municipal, industrial and household levels (Tchobanoglous & Vergara, 2010). This was considered as primary initiative of a chain of systems focusing on resource management and air cleaning (Gerlak, 2005). There have been several major adjustments made to the Act with the reference to Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (1976). The involvement of federal

Medical institutions such as hospitals, clinics and doctors’ surgery rooms undertake numerous types of medical assessments and procedures on a daily basis; however some Infectious waste can also produced in maternity homes and research institutes (Kumar, et al., 2015). Healthcare waste is not only generated from the above mentioned institutions it now embodies a far larger range of sources than in the