Blenkharn J I
Department of Infectious Diseases and Bacteriology, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London, UK.
J Hosp Infect. 1995 Jun;30 Suppl:514-20. doi: 10.1016/0195-6701(95)90057-8.
The disposal of clinical wastes is often poorly conducted and inadequately supervised despite the publication of clear and definitive working guidelines and the introduction of increasingly stringent legislative control. The move away from landfill disposal of clinical wastes, and the further development of high temperature incinerators able to meet increasingly tight emission limits, is to be applauded but has inevitably increased the cost of waste disposal. Moreover, such developments fail to address the continuing 'shop floor' problems whereby wastes enter an inappropriate waste stream or colour coded wastes containers are used for inappropriate purposes thus undermining the value of a nationally approved hazard warning policy. The development of newer waste treatments, including microwave exposure of macerated wastes, may reduce costs and aid in the control of environmental pollution. However, stringent control of this and existing technologies remains essential. Additionally, increasing resources must be directed to improvements in primary waste disposal practices whereby all health care staff have a clear responsibility to ensure correct disposal of wastes without risk to themselves, their colleagues and others, or to the environment.
尽管已发布明确且权威的工作指南，并实施了日益严格的立法控制，但临床废物的处置往往执行不力且监管不足。摒弃临床废物填埋处置方式，以及进一步研发能够满足日益严格排放限值的高温焚烧炉，值得赞许，但这不可避免地增加了废物处置成本。此外，这些进展未能解决持续存在的“实际操作”问题，即废物进入不当的废物流，或颜色编码的废物容器被用于不当目的，从而削弱了国家批准的危险警告政策的价值。包括对粉碎后的废物进行微波照射在内的新型废物处理技术的发展，可能会降低成本并有助于控制环境污染。然而，对这种新技术以及现有技术进行严格控制仍然至关重要。此外，必须投入更多资源来改进初级废物处置做法，使所有医护人员都明确有责任确保正确处置废物，不对自己、同事及他人或环境造成风险。
