Waste disposa I system

What to do with infec- tious waste is a problem common to hospitals particularly when emis- sion standards prohibit the use of an incinera- tor. For low pollution waste disposal, Downey Community Hospital, 10s Angeles, first sferi- lizes this material in a large retort under steam pressure. Dispos- able items from pa- tient's rooms, surgery and pathology are col- lected in double red plastic bags. The red bags are placed inside 55 gallon paper bags and taken to the retort. Waste i s sterilized daily and offer cooling, re- moved from the retort and disposed of in bins

d+ for pickup.

onvinced that sterilization i s the answer for disposing hospital infectious solid waste matter, Allen R Korneff, assistant administrator of Downey Com- munity Hospital, Downey, Calif, has devised a sys-

tem using a large retort which operates on the same principle as an autoclave. The necessity for finding an alternative to the existing method of using incinerators resulted from citations being issued to Los Angeles area hospitals for violation of stringent pollution laws. Pre- viously, the citations had only been given to industrial refineries, chemical plants, and steel mills.

The emission stalndards being enforced in 10s Angeles

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County are based on a 12% COz concen- tration. Regulations state that solid emission i s limited to 0.1 gm/cu f t of gas within this concentration.

Since the cost of a traditional hospital steam autoclave large enough to accom- modate the volume of infectious waste was prohibitive, Mr Korneff and Mandel Brittain, chief engineer at Downey, began seeking solutions in industries unrelated to the hos- pital field. A search for a method of fabri- cating a large steam sterilizer ended in adapting a giant pressure cooker like that used in commercial canneries.

The cooker was modified into a custom built retort at one-sixth the cost for an auto- clave of the same capacity. It i s completely automatic, and has many of the same safety and recording devices found on traditional steam autoclaves, but it i s made of steel rather than stainless steel. The total cost of purchase and operation of the system is one-seventh the cost of an incinerator.

The power source for the retort which requires only 1% steam horsepower to run, i s pollution free and a byproduct of the hospital’s existing boiler. The retort sterilizes the infectious wastes during a 30-minute cycle at 275 F and 40 pounds of pressure.

Although the 155-pound cylinder could handle one week’s supply of infectious wastes at one time, it is operated each night for safety and convenience.

Waste collection has required no change in work flow and practices from the previous infectious waste disposal system using in- cineration. Items of disposal nature from rooms 04 patients with suspected or diag- nosed communicable diseases are placed in double red plastic bags that are sealed and collected twice daily. These red bags are put into porous 55-gallon bags and stored in the sealed retort until ample waste material has been accumulated. The bags prevent the melted plastic from flowing onto the floor of the retort. After cooling, the bags are removed and the inert waste i s placed into trash bins to be carted away with other trash.

Some of the savings cited by Mr Korneff

1. The initial cost is approximately $10,000, about one-sixth that of a 750 Ib/hr incinerator. There i s no rebuild cost of about $10,000 incurred every ten years as with an incinerator. 2. There is less labor required because all waste i s put into the retort at once as

are:

Table I

Alternative Cost Comparison

Our Traditional Water scrub steam steam incinerator retort autoclave 750 Ib per hr

Approximate purchase price $1 0,000.00 $60,000.00 $70,000.00

Yearly Operating Costs

Depreciation (20 yr) $500.00 $3,000.00 $3,500.00 Maintenance and Rebuilding 100.00 200.00 1,000.00 Fuel 90.00 90.00 1 1 ,I 00.00

Direct Labor Costs @ $3.75 per hour 682.00 682.00 2,738.00

Total $1,372.00 $3,972.00 $1 8,338.00

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d-, 740 AORN Journal, March 1975, Vol 21, No 4

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The plastic bags are placed in paper bags before sterilization fa prevent melted plastic from flowing onfo the floor of the retort.

AORN Journal, March 1975, VoZ 21, No 4