Nurses Warn Against Dumping Medical Waste in Honolulu Landfill
A pair of registered nurses spoke out against dumping medical waste at the Waimanalo Gulch landfill
at a City Council hearing Monday.
Syringes with needles still attached and vials of blood washed ashore Leeward beaches last week after stormwater escaped the landfill.
“I believe no medical waste should be put in the ground at all,” said Arlene Norton, a retired nurse and Ko Olina resident. “I urge the City Council and the Department of Health to abide by standards to basically shred all sharps and dispose correctly of and incinerate if possible all material medical waste.”
Officials testified that fewer hospitals opt to burn medical waste today because air quality standards have become more difficult to meet and plastics associated with medical waste give off chemical emissions when burned.
Another registered nurse described a situation in a clinic where she once worked, where it was determined that a maintenance person was putting medical waste in regular garbage bags.
“We found out that the maintenance worker who was responsible for collecting the sharps that were supposed to be bagged in red bags was actually dumping those in the waste bin and black bags being picked up by the regular waste system,” Leslie Porter told the City Council. “When I heard all the talk about how (the medical waste that washed ashore last week) couldn’t be hazardous, I thought about that situation.”
Department of Health officials said they received documents that prove the medical waste was non-infectious, but Civil Beat’s requests 鈥斅爐o the Health Department, city officials and the landfill operator聽鈥斅爐o view those documents have not been returned. Since last week, Waste Management operator Joe Whelan has refused repeated requests for comment.
“It’s frustrating because first and foremost, our concerns should be for the health and well-being of our community,” City Council member Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo said of Whelan’s reluctance to speak to reporters. “There are some very valid questions both with the events that took place and the response to it. How do we move forward?”
A Civil Beat investigation found a lack of regulation and confusion over responsibilities when it comes to medical-waste disposal.
At Monday’s hearing, Tamayo asked officials from the city, state and landfill about oversight. Officials explained that the hospitals classify the medical waste they want to throw away, and the private company that runs the landfill manages oversight of sanitization even though the state provides the permit. Tamayo called the process “troubling.”
“No one can say with 100 percent certainty that the medical waste that went into the ocean has all been sanitized,” Tamayo said. “I still don’t have a clear sense of where the oversight is. We are putting many different types of medical waste and special waste into the landfill and there doesn’t seem to be a clear line of oversight as far as how often to inspect the facilities, who is responsible for it, or a clear chain of responsibility.”
Other public testimony called into question the thinking behind allowing members of the public who are not trained to handle medical waste help with the clean-up effort. The city and landfill relied heavily on volunteers to assist with removing needles and vials from beaches.
“Neighborhood folks picking up hypodermic needles including those with needles in place,” said Beverly Munson, a Ko Olina resident. “What if one of those people got a needle stick? We’ve heard testimony that these have been autoclaved but what about when they sit in the landfill? They pick up bacteria … Even if they were autoclaveed, they still represent a public safety issue.”
Ultimately, the hearing left some city council members with more questions, and an awareness of a series of trash-related problems that may be worse than they initially feared.
“They did provide a lot of information that I think was helpful in understanding the problem,” said City Council member Ernie Martin. “Whether that information put me at ease? No. I would have hoped the State Department of Health would be more active in regulating (medical waste). Personally, I would feel more comfortable if medical waste was burned, to dispose of it once and for all.”
