Tag: up

Central Australia’s Creature graveyard

The figure has been shown from the Alice Springs regional waste management facility report for October.

The dead pet you asked the vet to dispose of will wind up buried in landfill, in most places across the nation, and Alice Springs is not any different.

“it is a combo of horses, dogs, cats, pigs, any animal that dies,” explained Alice Springs council technical services manager Greg Buxton. “Road kill, kangaroos and that, the rangers select up them, and you’ve got to dispose of them someplace sterile. We place them at the back of landfill.”

The facility is on track to surpass last year’s total, with 3.7 tonnes deposited at the first quarter of the year.

Mr Buxton said most regional councils across the nation dispose of dead animals in garbage.

“In the bigger cities they have an incinerator type setting where they cremate themwhereas we don’t have an incinerator here,” he explained.

by: http://www.news.com.au/national/northern-territory/central-australias-animal-graveyard/story-fnn3gfdo-1227123002725

Open Menu burning wins out over closed incinerator for M6 propellant in Camp Minden

The very first of many public meetings regarding the disposal of over 15 million pounds of M6 propellant in Camp Minden drew close to 150 concerned officials and citizens to the Minden Civic Center Thursday night.

There, they learned the arrangement reached between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army, that will finance the $28.5 million clean up of their illegally stored substance left by Explo Systems, Inc., calls strictly for open air burning.

“Local builders, the Maddens, designed a device,” Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton, who put up the assembly, said. “For some reason, that apparatus isn’t being considered within this clean up process.”

“We’re disappointed,” James Madden, proprietor of Madden Contracting, said. Madden’s son, David spent money and time researching and constructing a prototype that would have permitted closed incineration of the product. “We considered we built a better mousetrap.”

But Madden might not be from it yet. The Army should first design a bid package and go through a procedure required by law to find a company to take on the project.

“The Maddens can throw at a bid on the open tray procedure,” Sexton said.

State Sen. Robert Adley said while debate regarding responsibility was taking place, the Maddens developed a strategy to deal with this. Adley, together with others from the local delegation, attended a demonstration of the incinerator in Camp Minden past January. “We’re not professionals, but under law, by their interpretation, the EPA cannot use that procedure. I regret this, but it’s where we are in this stage of the game”

Adley said that under present law, the Louisiana Military Department and Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis are expected to take calls from whoever supplies one.

“At the close of the afternoon , he (Curtis) can sit right down and decide who’s qualified, who has the expertise and if they have the financial capital to do it,” Adley said. “All of these things will be taken under consideration. It would be wonderful if it ended up being a person who, if they complete, will probably be sitting breathing this air .”

David Madden appeared resigned to the EPA’s choice after attending an informal meeting with officials earlier in the day.

“I’ve studied this procedure and, yes, I did work for the incinerator,” he said. “I met with EPA officials and other experts not associated with the EPA, and they are going down the right path with the holes that are open “

Madden said his change of heart hinged on the haste with which the disposal has to take place to avoid more degradation of the item, which makes it increasingly dangerous.

“It is important this get started the first quarter of next year,” he said. “I’ve looked in the air quality plumes (from open tray burning). Only 10 percent of the fallout will go to Doyline. There’s an equal amount heading toward Bossier and moving north. Our business is about a mile and a half since east. We’re all going to get a number of this.”

District 10 State Rep. Gene Reynolds said, moving forward, communication is essential.

“In my website and in my office, we will continue to keep each the completely upgraded stuff,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to keep (the public) educated with everything that emerges from this point forward.”

Sexton stressed the value of the public’s help.

“Help us calm the fears of those people in the community about what we don’t understand will occur with the destruction of the M6 propellant,” he said. “We might all agree on matters that may occur, but we don’t need to talk about what we need to fret about. The individuals who are likely to be responsible — whoever the contractor is — the people that are likely to be disposing of the item, keep them in your prayers because something could happen to the people who are responsible for moving out there and opening those bunkers, choosing this item upward, moving it and ruining it where we can live in a safer neighborhood.”

The upcoming public meeting is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 16. Time and location have never been decided.

 

by: http://press-herald.com/open-tray-burning-wins-out-over-closed-incinerator-for-m6-propellant-at-camp-minden/

by: http://press-herald.com/open-tray-burning-wins-out-over-closed-incinerator-for-m6-propellant-at-camp-minden/

Another challenge: disposing of waste

Just one Ebola patient treated in a U.S. hospital will generate eight 55-gallon barrels of medical waste each day.

Protective gloves, gowns, masks and booties are donned and doffed by all who approach the patient’s bedside and then discarded. Disposable medical tools, packaging, bed sheets, cups, plates, tissues, towels, pillowcases and anything which is utilized to clean up after the individual has to be thrown away.

Dealing with this assortment of pathogen-filled debris without triggering new illnesses is a legal and logistical challenge for each U.S. hospital currently preparing for a possible visit by the virus.

In California and other states, it is a much worse waste-management nightmare.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends autoclaving (a kind of sterilizing) or incinerating the waste as a surefire means of destroying the germs, burning waste is effectively banned in California, also banned in many different states.

“Storage, transport and disposal of the waste is going to be a significant issue,” California Hospital Association President C. Duane Dauner warned Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in a letter last week.

Even a few states that normally permit incineration are throwing up barriers to Ebola waste.

In Missouri, the state attorney general has sought to pub Ebola-contaminated debris by a St. Louis incinerator operated by Stericycle Inc., the country’s biggest medical waste disposal firm.

as a result of restrictions on burning, California hospital representatives say their only alternative appears to be trucking the waste over public highways and incinerating it in a different state — a prospect which makes some environmental advocates embarrassing.

Prerequisites for transport

Under national transport guidelines, the material would be designated a Class A infectious substance, or one that’s capable of causing death or permanent disability, and might require special approval from the Department of Transportation, hospital representatives say. “Not to create any type of scare, but only given the makeup of the people and the hub we are. It is very possible” It can’t endure a 1,500-degree scorching within an incinerator, or even the prolonged, pressurized steam of an autoclave. “It is killed by bleach, by autoclaving, by an assortment of chemicals.”

But, CDC guidelines note that”chemical inactivation” has yet to be standardized and could trigger worker safety regulations.

Getting prepared

California health officials lately tried to reassure residents that the nation’s private and public hospitals were around the job and were actively training for the possible coming of Ebola.

“Ebola doesn’t pose a significant public health risk to California communities in the present time,” said Dr. Gil Chavez, an epidemiologist and deputy director in the California Department of Public Health. “Allow me to tell you why: Present scientific proof specifies that people can’t access Ebola through the atmosphere, food or water. … The Ebola virus doesn’t survive over a couple of hours on impervious surfaces.”

It was uncertain whether California officials viewed the waste issue as a possible issue.

Although one third of the nation’s private hospitals and”several” of its public hospitals reported to Boxer’s office there would be problems complying with the CDC’s incineration recommendation, and others, a state public health officer told reporters he was not aware of any conflicts.

Dr. David Perrott, chief medical officer for the California Hospital Association, said there was also confusion about whether contaminated human waste could be flushed down the toilet.

“Here is what we’ve heard from the CDC: It is OK,” Perrott said. “But we’ve heard from some sources, that maybe we must sterilize it somehow and then flush it down the toilet or you have to consult local governments. It sounds maybe a bit gross, but there is a real question about what to do with this waste.”

Dr. Thomas Ksiazek, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, has said he believes there’s been a lot of overreaction about Ebola medical waste.

“There are different methods to deal with the waste; autoclaving would be chief among them,” Ksiazek mentioned. “The issue is, most physicians don’t use it for many disposable products. They’re quite pleased to bag them up and send them to a normal medical disposal firm.”

But Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said incineration is simple and powerful, and should be available to hospitals to help eliminate the mountain of waste.

Hershkowitz said states began to crack down on medical waste incineration years back because substances which didn’t have to get burned were being sent to combustors and were emitting dangerous pollutants.

within this instance of Ebola medical waste, he said California should reconsider its limitations.

“There’s no pollutant that is going to come from a waste incinerator that is more dangerous than the Ebola virus,” Hershkowitz said. “When you’re dealing with pathogenic and biological hazards, sometimes the safest thing to do is combustion.”

by: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Another-challenge-disposing-of-waste-5909413.php

“There are other ways to deal with the waste; autoclaving would be chief among them,” Ksiazek said. “The problem is, most hospitals don’t use it for most disposable items. They’re quite happy to bag them up and send them to a regular medical disposal company.”

But Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said incineration is simple and effective, and should be available to hospitals to help dispose of the mountain of waste.

Hershkowitz said states began to crack down on medical waste incineration years ago because materials that didn’t need to be burned were being sent to combustors and were emitting dangerous pollutants.

In this case of Ebola medical waste, he said California should reconsider its restrictions.

“There’s no pollutant that’s going to come out of a waste incinerator that’s more dangerous than the Ebola virus,” Hershkowitz said. “When you’re dealing with pathogenic and biological hazards, sometimes the safest thing to do is combustion.”

by: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Another-challenge-disposing-of-waste-5909413.php

Ebola: Southport firm leading the fight in International health crisis

“Their engineers usually go out to help with installation but as a result of the Ebola threat, engineers employed by aid organisations and agencies are being sent to be trained up at the plant in Canning Road Industrial Estate rather than

Mr Niklas added:”They contacted us when the outbreak started a few months ago. But we are geared up for these things, anyway. The last time demand was like this was that the Iraq War. We have set up a distinct plant when it does occur we could manage it.”

British Army medics were shipped to Sierra Leone yesterday since global leaders promised to measure the international community’s attempts to stop the spread of the disease that has up to now taken more than 4,000 lives.

Sales and advertising director Paul Niklas said they’d more than a hundred orders from global organisations and aid agencies, including the United Nations and the Red Cross.

He said most of their work force was committed to fabricating the incinerators.

Mr Niklas said:”We are really proud of the fact they have come to us and we have a item that’s part of the solution.

“Because this has to be contained at the source.

“As soon as you begin trying to maneuver waste, it can spread further and farther.

“Our incinerators burn 850 degrees Celsius that burns the toxins, then in the second room they burn the gases from that at 1,200 levels so what is coming from the chimney is clean.

“Along with our incinerators are portable, too, so they can be carried to the source”