Patent ID: 8061528

Claim:
A recovery processing system for processing one of sharps containers and contents of sharps containers, to separate medical devices that can be reused from medical waste that should be destroyed, wherein the medical devices and medical waste were previously placed into the sharps containers, comprising a conveyor configured to continuously and controllably convey one of a sharps container and a portion of the contents of the sharps container along a route, wherein the portion of the contents of the sharps container have been removed from the sharps container and disposed on the conveyer, said route directed successively through a plurality of processing stations, for continuous processing of reprocessable medical devices that can be recovered substantially intact from a sharps container; said sharps container including medical devices and medical waste that should be destroyed, the plurality of processing stations including a processing station having means for performing an operation o one of the sharps container and the portion of its contents disposed within the processing station, and processing station in which the medical devices that can be recovered are separated from the medical devices and the medical waste that should be destroyed.