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PubMed2002

Medical waste production and disposal arising from renal replacement therapy.

The treatment of end stage renal disease (ESRD) makes extensive use of pre-sterilised disposable items that are contaminated by blood or other body fluids following use. Commonly these items are incinerated. Because they contain substantial amounts of polyvinylchloride (PVC), their incineration releases polychlorinated dibenzo p dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated di benzo p furans (PCF), as well as heavy metals. A consequence of the release of these substances has been the introduction of legislation controlling waste disposal. These issues are likely to impact on the management of waste at the healthcare facility level. In parallel, new PVC-free materials for use in renal replacement therapies have been developed whose incineration is less controversial environmentally.

Environmental Pollutants↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Preventing occupational exposures to antineoplastic drugs in health care settings.

The toxicity of antineoplastic drugs has been well known since they were introduced in the 1940s. Because most antineoplastic drugs are nonselective in their mechanism of action, they affect noncancerous as well as cancerous cells, resulting in well-documented side effects. During the 1970s, evidence came to light indicating health care workers may be at risk of harmful effects from antineoplastic drugs as a result of occupational exposure. Since that time, reports from several countries have documented drug contamination of the workplace, identified drugs in the urine of health care workers, and measured genotoxic responses in workers. Evidence also exists of teratogenic and adverse reproductive outcomes and increased cancers in health care workers. During the past 30 years, professional organizations and government agencies have developed guidelines to protect health care workers from adverse effects from occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs. Although many safety provisions were advanced to reduce worker exposure in the 1980s, recent studies have shown that workers continue to be exposed to these drugs despite safety policy improvements. In 2004, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published an alert reviewing the most recent information available and promoting a program of safe handling during their use.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed2004

Physical characteristics of a waste activated sludge: conditioning responses and correlations with a synthetic surrogate.

The efficient and economic management of waste activated sludge (WAS) requires a proper understanding of the sludge's material properties. Though there has been much study of WAS, an adequate linkage between its physical and chemical properties has been elusive. In particular, the conditioning and dewatering of WAS are expensive operations, and the addition of polymer to WAS leads to even more complex material behavior that is difficult to optimize. This paper reports on an extensive characterization of WAS, both with and without polymer conditioning. We combined the classical "jar test" approach with less conventional rheometric and electrokinetic measurements. In addition to the use of sampled WAS, a synthetic surrogate sludge was formulated, attempting to duplicate properties of WAS and allow more extensive characterization of a reproducible surrogate to WAS. Results with both the synthetic surrogate and WAS indicated that the traditional, electrokinetic, and rheological properties were related. However, the dose optima by rheometry were somewhat higher in both cases.

Delaware↗
PubMed2003

Waste load allocation for water quality management of a heavily polluted river using linear programming.

A waste load allocation model using linear programming has been developed for economic water quality management. A modified Qual2e model was used for water quality calculations and transfer coefficients were derived from the calculated water quality. This allocation model was applied to the heavily polluted Gyungan River, located in South Korea. For water quality management of the river, two scenarios were proposed. Scenario 1 proposed to minimise the total waste load reduction in the river basin. Scenario 2 proposed to minimise waste load reduction considering regional equity. Waste loads, which have to be reduced at each sub-basin and WWTP, were determined to meet the water quality goal of the river. Application results of the allocation model indicate that advanced treatment is required for most of the existing WWTPs in the river basin and construction of new WWTPs and capacity expansion of existing plants are necessary. Distribution characteristics of pollution sources and pollutant loads in the river basin was analysed using Arc/View GIS.

Environmental Monitoring↗
PubMed2003

From waste treatment to integrated resource management.

Wastewater treatment was primarily implemented to enhance urban hygiene. Treatment methods were improved to ensure environmental protection by nutrient removal processes. In this way, energy is consumed and resources like potentially useful minerals and drinking water are disposed of. An integrated management of assets, including drinking water, surface water, energy and nutrients would be required to make wastewater management more sustainable. Exergy analysis provides a good method to quantify different resources, e.g. utilisable energy and nutrients. Dilution is never a solution for pollution. Waste streams should best be managed to prevent dilution of resources. Wastewater and sanitation are not intrinsically linked. Source separation technology seems to be the most promising concept to realise a major breakthrough in wastewater treatment. Research on unit processes, such as struvite recovery and treatment of ammonium rich streams, also shows promising results. In many cases, nutrient removal and recovery can be combined, with possibilities for a gradual change from one system to another.

Conservation of Energy Resources↗
PubMed1989

Medical surveillance of hazardous waste workers: ability of laboratory tests to discriminate exposure.

The assessment and cleanup of hazardous waste sites has become a growth industry. Unlike traditional factory employment, chemical exposures on wastes sites are likely to involve uncharacterized mixtures. Medical surveillance of hazardous waste workers has become a major preventive strategy. To evaluate the effectiveness of the traditional laboratory tests employed in most surveillance programs, we compared test results in two groups of hazardous waste workers (409 males, 68 females) with responsibilities for the assessment and management of waste sites. We stratified employees into a group with a high potential for exposure ("exposed") and a group with a low potential for exposure ("unexposed"). Fifty-five clinical chemistry, hematologic, and urinalysis variables were contrasted using an analysis of variance. The only consistently significant difference was a low mean corpuscular volume in the "exposed" group. The lack of other significant findings suggests that either the true exposure status of individuals was not reflected in our classification or that the traditional tests were inappropriate or insensitive. We conclude that it is essential to evaluate surveillance results carefully and to develop protocols that are appropriate to the actual exposures encountered in hazardous waste work.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

A life-cycle inventory model of municipal solid waste combustion.

Evaluation of alternate strategies for municipal solid waste (MSW) management requires models to calculate environmental emissions as a function of both waste quantity and composition. A methodology to calculate waste component-specific emissions associated with MSW combustion is presented here. The methodology considers emissions at a combustion facility as well as those avoided at an electrical energy facility because of energy recovered from waste combustion. Emission factors, in units of kg pollutant per metric ton MSW entering the combustion facility, are calculated for CO2-biomass, CO2-fossil, SOx, HCl, NOx, dioxins/furans, PM, CO, and 11 metals. Water emissions associated with electrical energy offsets are also considered. Reductions in environmental emissions for a 500-metric-ton-per-day combustion facility that recovers energy are calculated.

Air Pollution↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nitrogen management considerations for landspreading municipal solid waste compost.

Many municipalities have examined composting as an alternative to landfilling for the management of organic solid waste materials. Ultimately these materials will be land-applied and therefore some knowledge of nutrient availability will be necessary to optimize crop yield and minimize environmental risk. Field studies were conducted in 1993 and 1994 on a silt loam and a loamy sand soil in Wisconsin to determine the effect of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) on corn (Zea mays L.) yield, plant nutrient concentration, and soil nitrate N content. Municipal solid waste composts with ages of 7, 36, and 270 d were applied at rates of 22.5, 45, and 90 Mg ha(-1) to small plots. Rates of commercial nitrogen (N) fertilizer, ranging from 0 to 179 kg N ha(-1), were applied to separate plots to determine the N availability from the MSWC. Treatments were applied in the spring and incorporated before planting corn. The 270-d MSWC increased corn whole-plant dry matter and grain yield at each location in both years above the 7- and 36-d MSWC. Rate of MSWC only affected grain yield at the loamy sand site in 1994. Municipal solid waste compost had minimal effect on the levels of plant nutrients in the whole-plant tissue measured at physiological maturity. Nitrate N measured in the top 90 cm of soil was higher throughout the growing season in treatments receiving recommended N fertilizer when compared with any of the MSWC treatments. It was estimated that 6 to 17% of the total N in the 270-d MSWC became available in the first year. The land-application of mature MSWC at the tested rates would be an agronomically and environmentally admissible practice.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2005

Declassification of radioactive liquid wastes generated in radio immune assay [corrected] (RIA) laboratories.

Radioactive liquid wastes of low-medium activity level are generated in radio immune assay (RIA) laboratories, which are also potentially infectious because of the pathogens from patient blood. The most common way of managing these wastes consists of a temporal storage, for partial radioactivity decay, followed by management by an authorised company. The object of this work is to study the viability of treating radioactive liquid wastes coming from RIA using membrane techniques in order to reduce their volume, which would mean an improvement from the radiological point of view and a decrease in management costs. This paper describes the results of some experiments carried out with RIA real wastes, by means of processes such as ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. It has been proved that waste volume can be significantly reduced, obtaining a treated liquid that is free of pathogens and organic matter and with an activity level around the environmental background.

Laboratories, Hospital↗
PubMed2003

Data reconciliation, structure analysis and simulation of waste flows: case study Vienna.

The management of complex waste flow systems requires a systematic approach for the handling of data, for obtaining a consistent picture of the system under consideration, and for simulating various policy scenarios and evaluating material control strategies. In this paper the implementation of a useful methodology is presented, which has been developed in previous works and is further enhanced for modelling, identifying, analysing and simulating material flow systems for which at most one measurement per flow is available for a single balancing period. The methodology enables the analyst to cope with missing data and uncertainty in the measurements. A data reconciliation procedure is used to minimise the uncertainty concerning flows by exploiting the redundancies created by restricting the available data to fulfil the available structural information. Statistical tests are introduced to enable the user to check the compatibility of the data with the a priori information. The origins analysis and destination analysis tools allow for a deeper insight into the system structure. Policy scenarios can be treated using the simulation tools. The waste flow system of the city of Vienna has been chosen to demonstrate step-by-step the procedure for building a reliable model and the effective application of the above mentioned methods and tools. Current and future research focuses on models balancing different interrelated quantities simultaneously and on incorporating stock accumulation and depletion behaviour.

Austria↗
PubMed1999

Nutritional and metabolic endpoints.

None of the metabolic indicators which have been used to date provides a single or necessarily ideal endpoint for interventional management in wasting disorders. Some of these indicators may provide better endpoints for the acute rather than the chronic wasting conditions. In addition, it is imperative that more than one endpoint be selected to be assured that there is concordance in the findings. However, prior to the selection of any endpoint measure, the investigators involved must be fully cognizant of the potential pitfalls and errors that can occur in every one of the selected methodologies. In anticipating these potential problems, developing strategies for the interpretation of the data is critical at the outset of any interventional management strategy. The manufacturers, the regulators and the investigators involved in the interventional management of chronic and acute wasting disorders must agree on the endpoints to be used and these endpoints must provide the most appropriate and valid information. Selection of nutritional and metabolic endpoints must be in part dependent on the disease process involved, the potential magnitude of the interventional effect and must be utilized in the context of a carefully designed experimental protocol with a well focused question(s).

Amino Acids↗