The town of 2,000 residents had to be evacuated and all of the houses and businesses were demolished. Yet this deadly poison continues to be created through medical waste incineration. Commonly used PVC items in hospitals include IV bags, IV tubing, blood bags, endotracheal tubes, office supplies, mattress covers and oxygen tents. But when PVC plastic is incinerated as a medical waste disposal method, dioxin is created as an unintended byproduct. Although dioxin is also created throughout the life cycle of chlorinated plastic, the EPA currently cites medical waste incinerators as the third largest source of dioxin production.
Nurses generate a lot of garbage during their normal workday.
Almost every activity a nurse performs, from inserting a Foley to starting an IV, creates a substantial amount of trash. As the job complexity, workload and the use of disposables have increased, so has the amount of garbage coming from a hospital. Since 1955, the amount of medical waste generated per hospital patient has more than doubled. Yet, even that waste does not need to be incinerated. According to the Centers for Disease Control, no more than 2 percent of a typical hospital's waste stream must be incinerated to protect public safety.