Do disposal sites prefer shredded or recognizable treated waste?
In accepting treated medical waste, two issues typically arise with disposal sites (landfills) regarding shredding. The first issue is verifying that the material is truly treated in a manner that is approved by the proper state and local regulatory bodies. Shredded material offers no visual verification of sterilization. The concern is that waste has bypassed the treatment process and may still be hazardous. The second concern is that shredded material can easily be carried and scattered by wind at the disposal site, thus being very messy. Note that treated recognizable waste is encapsulated in a polypropylene liner or bag. Each of these liners and bags has a special thermal strip that changes color after treatment. There are two means to visually verify treatment: the shrunken appearance of the waste from the treatment process and the thermal strip indicator. For many professionals in the waste industry, there is often a demand to be able to visually identify the waste as being treat
