5 Questions to Ask About Legal Pharmaceutical Waste Removal and Disposal

Nov 12, 2018

Proper pharmaceutical waste removal and disposal is the law!

Do you have pharmaceutical waste? Here are 5 questions for you to ask to help determine if your facility is complying with the law.

1. Have you ever dropped tablets or spilled liquid medication on the floor?
Spilled or contaminated medications are pharmaceutical waste that must be disposed of in compliance with federal and state hazardous waste regulations.

2. Do you ever prepare medication, but not fully administer/dispense it?
Partial or full prepared injections or IV bags are pharmaceutical waste that must be disposed of in compliance with federal and state hazardous waste regulations.

3. Do you ever receive sample medications from pharmaceutical representatives that expire before you can dispense them to patients?
Expired sample medications are pharmaceutical wastes, and responsibility for the disposal of expired sample medications falls to the facility that has custody of them when they expire.

4. Have you ever had patients whose medications changed, or who were discharged from your facility and their personal medications remained behind?
Any prescribed medication that can’t be used for its intended purpose and that remains in the custody of a healthcare facility is a pharmaceutical waste and must be disposed of properly by the healthcare facility.

5. Do you dispense warfarin, nicotine, physostigmine or arsenic trioxide?

These four drugs fall into a special subset of EPA hazardous wastes and even their empty packaging requires special management.

Don’t put another pill in the trash, red bag, or drain. Let Glycon LLC help you establish a SAFE, SIMPLE, and COMPLIANT solution for pharmaceutical waste disposal.

Request a free, no-obligation quote for Glycon’s drug disposal service.

Top Reasons You Need Proper Medical Waste Management

Nov 4, 2018

Do you and your employees know what goes in the regular trash can and what goes into the red, specially marked biomedical waste containers? While most businesses and medical facilities know the importance of following the rules and staying compliant, there are still people tossing medical waste where they want. For most, it’s a lack of training and not having a medical waste management system in place.

Here are a few reasons to put together a medical waste management system and how Glycon Medical Waste Services can help.

Proper Medical Waste Management Is Important!

Medical waste is harmful to humans. It can include infectious body fluids, used needles, chemicals, pathological waste, and more. While not all medical waste contains agents that can spread harmful diseases or pose serious risks to humans, there are many different forms of medical waste that can pose a risk to humans if handled improperly. By not having a proper medical waste management system in place, you are putting your staff, patients/customers, and others who visit your facility at risk of contracting diseases such as:

• Hepatitis
• HIV
• Malaria

At Glycon Medical Waste Services, we understand just how dangerous infectious biomedical waste can be to humans. We provide the proper bags and containers for all of your medical waste needs. And in order to help you and your staff learn the difference between medical waste and regular trash and how to dispose of medical waste properly.

MEDICAL WASTE IS HARMFUL TO THE ENVIRONMENT

Not only is medical waste harmful to humans and animals, but it is also harmful to the environment. Even with hours of training, hefty fines, and the threat of shutting down, there are some businesses and facilities that still toss medical waste in with the regular trash headed for the landfill. While it may not seem like a big deal, biomedical waste adds up quickly when everyone continues tossing a few things here and there.

Not only does it create more waste in the local landfill, but contaminated waste also finds its way to our water supply. It gets into our streams, rivers, and lakes and eventually into our drinking water. While most things can be filtered out of our drinking water and decontaminated, most water treatment facilities have not figured out a way to filter out pathogens, expired medications, and other harmful medical waste.

At Glycon Medical Waste Services, we work hard to make sure that we are doing everything possible to keep our environment safe. When you partner with us, you are getting a company that produces no atmospheric pollution, operates under some of the highest standards in the industry, and has put in place clean, safe practices in order to create the most minimal carbon footprint and reduce the overall impact on the environment.

PROPER MEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IS REQUIRED BY LAW

There are several federal and state laws governing the disposal of medical waste. From the time it is created, removed, transported and disposed of, it’s important to follow the rules and regulations concerning medical waste. Are there a lot of rules? Yes. Is it impossible to follow the rules? No. By partnering with a medical waste disposal company like Glycon Medical Waste Services, it’s easy than you think to manage your medical waste.

Let us work with you to create a custom pick-up schedule to get rid of the potentially harmful waste in your facility.

We are also licensed, insured, and covered to handle the various types of medical waste.

CONTACT GLYCON MEDICAL WASTE SERVICES TODAY

If you are ready to start managing your medical waste stream, then give Glycon Medical Waste Services a call today! Let us help create a custom schedule to help you stay 100% compliant. We can hamdle all of your Glendale medical waste disposal requirements as well all areas of Southern California ( Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Anaheim, Riverside, Irvine, Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, San Diego …). Give us a call at (844) 494-8222 to get started.

California Medical Waste Management

Apr 25, 2018

The state of California implemented the Medical Waste Management Program as part of the Environmental Management Branch. This is to protect the public and the environment from potentially infectious disease. This agency regulates the handling, generation, storage, treatment, and disposal of medical waste providing oversight for the implementation of the Medical Waste Management Act.

California’s medical waste management and Los Angeles medical waste disposal health and safety code is lengthy and very detailed compared to other states. The latest document per the Medical Waste Management Act is 59 pages. It covers everything from definitions of medical waste to powers and duties, permits, treatment and storage, and enforcement.

Possibly the most interesting part of the Medical Waste Management Act is its thorough regulations on trauma waste management. It is a rather particular event that not many other states cover, at least not explicitly in documents. This is any event that deals with the removal of human blood, human body fluids, and other associated residues from the scene of a serious human illness, injury, or death. A trauma scene waste management practitioner must register with the department. Registered trauma scene waste management practitioners must pay an every year fee of two hundred dollars ($200) to the unit for deposit in a common fund used for this specific chapter.

Other highlights from California’s Medical Waste Management Act comprise:

Medical waste must be stored in an area that is either locked or under direct supervision or investigation.
Sharps containers shall not be stored for more than thirty days without the written support of the enforcement agency.
Acceptable actions for medical waste include incineration and autoclave.
Pathology waste of a human nature must be disposed of by interment, incineration, or alternative treatment technologies.
Pharmaceutical waste must be preserved by incineration or alternative treatment technologies approved.

The Medical Waste Management Program of California administers a number of local jurisdictions. The state’s enforcement policies are extremely stringent. We can see it starting with hefty fines and ending in jail time for repeated violations.

Call us if you’re in a field that generates medical waste, you need to be aware of all federal and state medical waste regulations.

Better Medical Waste Management Resolutions

Apr 3, 2018

Have A Solid Plan For Optimal Safety And Regulation: Here’s What Medical Waste Producers Must Do!

It’s a good time for medical waste producers to reevaluate their areas and come up with safer with the new year upon us. It’s more effective processes for medical waste removal. For tattoo parlors, medical offices, medical spas, busy laboratories, and veterinary practices, having a medical waste management plan and following the plan to the letter ensures that medical waste is managed, safe, compliant, and reduced. Here’s how these facilities can decide to have a solid plan for optimal safety and instruction.

Segregate Waste Properly

You wouldn’t put paper trash into red bag waste, nor would you put sharps in a trash receptacle. The process of segregating wastes into the right categories can greatly reduce the volume of what’s considered regulated medical waste. In these situations, you’re paying for unnecessary services thereby costing more in fines and penalties.

Reduce Packaging As Needed

Employ the usage of reusable sharps containers and only empty containers when they are full. A significant portion of medical waste removal is the packaging used to contain medical waste. Don’t use large-sized red bags for lesser red bag waste volume. Trust on reusable regulated medical waste basins.

Know Where You Store Your Waste

Be sure to have an accumulation area designated for certain staff. Medical waste containers should not be stored in common areas that are available to common traffic. Be sure that sharps containers are stored on the wall properly and at the right height. Checkers will check to see that your medical waste isn’t sitting out and in the open.

Decide To Offer A Compliance Refresher Course

If your worker isn’t current on the latest regulations, or if new employees don’t understand the different types of medical wastes and how they should be handled what they don’t know could cost you.

Employ A Reputable Medical Waste Removal Company

It is up to you make sure medical waste isn’t hauled off by an uninsured, untrained individual states govern how and when medical waste is transported and treated with various permits and laws. Not only is this a detriment to your practice and your community, it’s in contradiction of the law.

The finest way to keep your medical waste removal resolutions is to work with a certified and professional medical waste removal provider like Glycon LLC. Recognized by professionals with extensive experience in the medical waste business, Glycon LLC supports our customers to stay in compliance with the law.

Contact Glycon LLC today to discuss our full service options for San Diego medical waste disposal and all surrounding Southern and Central California areas.

Regulated Medical Waste Removal in Dental Offices

Feb 21, 2018

Do you want to start a dental practice? Or maybe you’ve already had one for years. Are your medical waste disposal procedures are still in compliance? Then you’ve come to the right place. Today, Glycon, a Southern California and Glendale medical waste disposal specialist, is here to discuss the types of waste and disposal protocols applicable to dental practices.

Regulated Medical Waste Removal

Always remember that only regulated medical waste requires special treatment and proper disposal. Not all waste generated by your dental practice will be regulated or even medical. For instance, when a patient wraps a bubble gum in a tissue before his appointment and throws it into trash, that’s not medical waste. In the same way, a cotton ball that you dropped on the floor by accident may be medical waste, but it’s not regulated.

Typically, medical waste is regulated when it’s contaminated with blood, saliva or other potentially infectious bodily fluids. So, a cotton ball will become regulated medical waste if it’s soaked with blood. There are also varieties of hazardous and pathological waste your practice may produce that require specific disposal procedures as well.

Types of Regulated Medical Waste in Dental Practices

Sharps Waste

Needles, scalpels, blades orthodontic wires (in some states), dental probes and scalers, glass etc.

Bio-hazardous waste

Blood-saturated swabs, cotton balls, gauze, etc.

Pathological waste

Extracted teeth (in some states), tissue and bone fragments

Hazardous waste

Dental amalgam (including chair-side amalgam traps, amalgam filling materials and residues, amalgam capsules and extracted teeth that contain amalgam), lead foil, x-ray film, certain disinfectants, adhesives and processing chemicals.

How to Dispose of Regulated Medical Waste

The specific ways of disposal of the above regulated medical waste will depend on the type of waste, whether it’s solid, liquid, hazardous or sharp. All waste needs to be properly collected at the point of generation and securely bagged according to the OSHA, CDC and EPA regulations. Certain dental instruments may be considered reusable and can be sterilized through on-site autoclave, or transported to a third-party facility for sterilization. Single-use instruments and other types of regulated medical waste will need to be disposed of through a registered medical waste removal company such as Glycon.

Getting Started with Your Dental Practice

If you want to open your own dental practice and don’t have much experience with medical waste removal, you can explore the following resources:

Waste Management in Dental Office (NCBI/NIH)
Recommended Infection Control Practices for Dentistry (CDC)
A Guide to Compliance with OSHA Standards for Medical & Dental Offices (OSHA)
Managing Sharps and Other Hazardous Waste in the Dental Office
Managing Regulated Waste in Dental Environments

Remember that medical waste created by your dental practice may fall under the jurisdiction of several federal and state organizations, such as CDC, OSHA, EPA, and also Los Angeles Department of Health and Mental Hygiene if you are in Southern California. You may be confused to point out exactly which rules you have to follow to ensure compliance. As your Southern California waste removal partner, Glycon will willingly help you with advice and guidance. We work with many small and large dental offices and medical practices, and we know the type of Regulated Medial Waste Removal services they typically need

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call us (844) 494-8222 to speak with one of our Regulated medical waste removal experts.

« Older Entries