Dump The Pump

[Ranb2khz]

That is one of the most honest and intuitive posts that I have read SteveF.

"The medical waste angle is actually a good one that I should have seen coming. Hospitals pay big bucks to have that stuff hauled off and incinerated, etc..."

JBI, Inc. will be able to save the health care industry millions of dollars by taking the hazardous plastic waste for a substantially reduced cost to the health care industry.

The current disposal methods of incineration and/or landfill are extremely expensive:

Medical Waste Disposal

Hospitals in the United States generate approximately 4.5 million tons of medical waste each year. About 15% of this waste is considered infectious waste. Incineration of medical waste, as with any waste, has the
advantage of being able to dramatically reduce the volume of the waste. Disadvantages of incineration include its high costs and potential pollution hazards.

In the primary combustion chamber, waste is dried, heated, and burned in the presence of about 80% of the stoichiometric oxygen (oxygen needed for complete combustion). The combustion gases produced in the primary chamber proceed to the secondary chamber. In the secondary chamber, the gases are mixed with excess oxygen and their combustion is completed. Temperatures are controlled by air input and can range from 1,400 to 2,000 0F. Surprisingly, these incinerators release only 1.4 pounds of particulate matter for every ton of waste combusted. The concerns raised in medical waste incineration revolve around the chemicals released from combusting plastics. Chemicals know commonly as dioxins and furans result from this combustion and are of course dangerous. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) reports that 20% of medical waste is plastic. I suspect that that estimate is very low. All things considered, incineration of this type is not a bad solution, but there are better ones.

A hospital in Pennsylvania burned their waste in a chamber with coal and limestone at 1,600 0F. The coal and limestone are good absorbing agents for many of the formed particulates. At the same time, the hospital is burning its waste, it's also producing energy (heat) that it can use. This is a key advantage over sending the waste offsite....if the capital spending can be justified.
Other methods of medical waste disposal continue to be explored. The problems associated with medical waste disposal are not as large as they sound. Overall, there are many larger problems facing the world, but don't be surprised if a chemical engineer helps to solve this one.

http://www.cheresources.com/medwastezz.shtml