Non Compost Mentis

I don't know about the rest of the world, but it seems that lately, we Nova Scotians have been required to spend more and more time sorting and washing our garbage. It's called "recycling" and requires four different containers (or was that five?). Now, of course, we've always separated out sharps from the rest of the waste generated in the clinic, and it makes sense to take contaminated waste and dispose of this separately and in a more sterile manner – although I wonder how stuff that ends up in regular garbage, such as diapers, female sanitary appliances, doggy doo-doo, etc., can be any more contaminated than the various swabs, specula, and assorted paraphernalia generated in the course of a day in the office.

Now, however, we must separate compost (roughly defined by my niece as anything you can eat that won't kill you) from clean paper from regular garbage from recycling. We were perhaps less than compulsive about doing this, until a new waste management service got the contract in our county. Suddenly our six-man practice was told that it was limited to 10 bags of garbage every two weeks. In the days of reusing syringes, needles, metal specula, drapes etc., this might have been feasible, but with today's clients understandably reluctant to take recycling to this extreme, we generate an awful lot of disposable matter – certainly well over 10 bags.

To help us adapt, we had a visit from a waste management advisor (read "chief of the garbage police") who gave us a seminar on exactly how all this sorting should be done. It's very simple really. Any clean paper is recycled, unless it has that funny shiny stuff on it or incorporates plastic, in which case it is garbage. If it is wet or soiled it goes into compost, and if it is contaminated, it goes into the hazardous waste container (toilet paper excepted, which still goes into the toilet). Some plastics are recycled, but others are considered garbage, so you simply have to check for certain codes on the plastic to determine where it goes (in case you're wondering, Timmy's coffee cup lids are recyclable, but the paper cup is garbage). Styrofoam plates and cups are easy, as they all go into the garbage. Paper plates that are soiled go into compost unless they are soiled with biohazardous waste (which may include some fast food place offerings), in which case they go into the contaminated waste container. Plastic bottles are recycled, but not the caps – they are garbage. Glass bottles are all recycled. Clean cardboard is recycled, but soiled cardboard boxes (read "pizza boxes") are composted.

Is this clear so far? If so, could you explain it to me?

The compost is stored in a green bin. This can be kept near the house or clinic in the winter. In the summer, it should be kept well away from any habitations, unless you are very fond of ants, fruit flies, house flies, and noxious odors. The fruit flies will tend to colonize the mini green bin compost container in the house anyway, so be aware that a neat way to get rid of them is to leave a glass of red wine out. They love the stuff and will crawl in and drown. If you are serving red wine at a dinner party, however, you may want to keep the glasses covered. Capped toddlers mugs with straws work well, as do Bavarian beer steins.

Now, when I am in my office seeing a patient, I have to decide in which container to put each item. The tongue depressor goes into hazardous waste, the paper towels with which I wash my hands go into compost, the lab requisition I messed up goes into recycling, and after I give a shot, the syringe barrel goes into contaminated and the needle into sharps. If I accidentally throw the tongue depressor into the regular garbage, I have to put on rubber gloves and retrieve it, and then throw it into the hazardous waste container. The gloves then become hazardous waste and follow the tongue depressor into the bin. In case you goof up, the garbage police (uhh … I mean the waste management technicians) inspect your waste regularly and come down hard on scofflaws who don't put their waste in the right place. Our office manager was recently shown photos of our garbage, which had been opened and audited (as if audits by provincial healthcare plans, the College, and Revenue Canada weren't enough).

Lunch times have become a challenge. If you dine on recyclable plastic, woe unto you, as it must be cleaned and placed in recycling along with aluminum cans and plastic bottles, but not plastic cutlery, which goes into garbage. To avoid having to wash your waste, a paper plate is your best bet, since it is compost like the food, so you can throw the whole thing into the compost bin. Don't forget to duck to avoid the clouds of fruit flies, though.

Doing a little calculating, I figure that I spend about an extra two minutes daily processing garbage. Given that I work about 200 days yearly, this works out to 400 minutes or six hours and 40 minutes yearly. Since there are about 60,000 physicians in Canada, this adds up to 400,000 hours of physician time yearly spent washing and sorting garbage. Assuming that the average physician works 200 10-hour days yearly, this works out to the equivalent of 200 full-time medics employed sorting garbage every year.

On the bright side, recent photos of our garbage show that we have been doing an exemplary job of recycling our waste products. In fact the municipality and local waste management mavens have singled us out as being outstanding examples of good corporate waste management. I wonder if we get a certificate?

Discuss This Article

Have something you'd like to say? Tell us what you think! Read and post comments for this article.

Find a Job

Choose your career:

MedHunters is the world's biggest healthcare job board. Our job directory has 17,366 jobs with 2,444 hospitals and other direct employers.

We want you to find your next job on MedHunters. Need Help? Call us at 1-888-884-8242, email us at info@medhunters.com or sign up now.