What is the current state of medical waste processing?
Medical waste is hazardous waste mainly consisting of plastics (infusion tubes), rubber (gloves) and biomass (gauze). If not promptly and correctly treated, medical waste brings incalculable harm to the environment and human beings.
Despite a typically low ash content, medical waste is highly volatile making it difficult to dispose of safely; the process of incinerating medical waste is now banned in parts of the US and all of the European Union.
What is the composition of typical municipal waste?
Municipal waste typically consists of the following materials:
Plastics: 31%
Textiles: 14%
Paper/Carboard: 13%
Wood Fractions: 12%
Other: 30%
As the above figures demonstrate, over 30% of other materials contains mainly plastics such as PET bottles, waste food and other amounts of metal, glass, etc. A separation process is used to separate metals and glass from the rest of the waste to prepare for further processing.