Hospitals Unprepared for Hazardous Ebola Waste

U.S. hospitals could have trouble handling and disposing of Ebola-related waste if they begin to treat infected patients, potentially threatening public safety.

The hemorrhagic fever is transmitted through bodily fluids and produces significant vomiting and diarrhea in people it infects.

These fluids would be considered biohazards and require special handling and disposal that few hospitals are prepared to carry out.

As health officials entertain the possibility that more Ebola cases could arrive in the United States, it’s a logistical problem hospitals are starting to consider.

The challenge was highlighted Wednesday in a report by Reuters, which chronicled how doctors at Emory University in Atlanta handled Ebola waste in the course of treating two infected missionaries.

Patients were generating “up to 40 bags a day of medical waste,” according to Emory assistant professor of medicine Aneesh Mehta. And the hospital’s disposal company, Stericycle, reportedly refused to handle the material at first.

So clinicians found a temporary solution: 32-gallon rubber containers with lids from Home Depot. Later, they used a special sterilizer to neutralize the waste before passing it to the company for disposal.

Reuters noted that few hospitals have the ability to sterilize materials on site like Emory.

“For this reason, it would be very difficult for a hospital to agree to care for Ebola cases. This desperately needs a fix,” Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, chair of the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s Public Health Committee, told the wire service.

Federal health and transportation agencies are reportedly meeting to discuss and resolve the issue.

Another great Green article from Green Halo Systems
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EPA Fines Sims Metal $189K for Polluting SF Bay

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice announced the $189,000 fine against Sims Metal Management on Thursday September 18th over allegations that it polluted the San Francisco Bay with toxic metal debris. The EPA charged the company with allowing toxic dust from metal to fall off a conveyor system and into a creek that feeds into the San Francisco Bay since at least the early 1990’s. As part of a settlement agreement, the recycling company will be required to pay the cost of cleanup in addition to the fine.

Sims Metal spokeswoman Jill Rodby said the company has implemented a number of best practices around the conveyor and agreed to the settlement without acknowledging any wrongdoing.

Source: NBC Bay Area

Another great Green article from Green Halo Systems
Track your recycling at https://greenhalosystems.com
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Have a Green Party This Weekend!

 

Green weddings, green parties, please invite us! @GreenhaloUSA on Twitter, we’ll hope to see you soon! Click here for some tips on how to throw either type of party.

Nice day for a green wedding

The green party: how to throw one…

Good As New Parts From Boeing For Half the Price?

Bloomberg just published an enthralling article about Boeing’s strategy behind whether or not they should refurbish older used airline parts. The article first explains the situation, goes into an industry overview, then defines the problem/opportunity, goes into examples and lastly their competition. Here’s a summary:

There are “potential riches in the aircraft that land in aviation’s junkyards as airlines ditch older jets for models that burn less fuel”. Also, Boeing is the world’s largest plane maker and so they may be in the market for a salvage company that recycles engines, landing gear and other components from scrapped jetliners.

Right now Boeing is in the maintenance, repairs and spare-parts business which has been profitable but they have been contracting out the dismantling of used planes that Boeing buys so this part of the business is what Boeing is considering adopting.

There’s a $3.2 billion market for used parts and this figure is growing since airlines commonly discard planes way before their 30-year service lives.

Some of the companies that Boeing might have looked at acquiring in their desired space are Aircraft Demolition LLC and AAR Corp. Also, it was reported that in January of this year, Fort Lauderdale raised $500 million from clients

In terms of problem/opportunity there’s risk that if Boeing deals used parts at a price that’s as much as 50% cheaper, and is certified to be as good as new, their new aircraft parts sector will suffer the consequence. Considering that 6,000 jetliners are expected to be driven out of service over the next decade due to improvements in fuel savings engineering, refurbished jetliner parts might help Boeing keep older air craft afloat longer.

We’ve posted a few articles on the shift towards greener skies, here are a few hits:

https://mygreenhalo.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/virgin-america-flies-the-greenest-skies/

and

https://mygreenhalo.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/solar-power-plane-preparing-for-around-the-world/

We hope you enjoy them and please, let us know what you think on Twitter @GreenHaloUSA

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-07/boeing-s-treasure-is-others-trash-in-parts-recycling.html

 

Another great Green article from Green Halo
Track your recycling at www.greenhalosystems.com
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Orange Juice Is Up For Grabs Again

We said that orange juice wasn’t an eco-friendly beverage option, and now it’s been shown that the consumption of orange juice was recently at an all time low at the lowest amount of sales since 2002! The Florida Department of Citrus found orange juice sales was at its lowest level since 2002 in the 4 week period that ended July 5^th.

Orange juice prices went up a few years ago because the Asian citrus psyllid bug caused a decline in citrus production. In addition, consumer tastes have shifted to enjoying other beverages like acai juice, green juice, coconut water and blended coffee drinks to name a few things.

What will happen to the demand of orange juice and could a decrease in the amount demanded bring a more eco-friendly nature to the industry?

Source: http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2014/7/23/orange_juice_sales_h.html

Lake Erie Toxins Contaminated Toledo’s Drinking Water

Algae blooms in Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes in North America that borders Canada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan and contaminated Toledo, Ohio’s tap water to a scary point. Phosphorous and nitrogen from farm runoff, livestock runoff, and sewage systems make the algae in this lake bloom, it’s also a shallow, warm lake that also contributes to algal growth. On Saturday, August 2^nd, 2014, the City of Toledo put an alert warning people not to drink or bathe in the water from the city water supply which affected about 400,000-500,000 residents.

The toxin is called microcystin which is produced by the algae microcystis. This toxin causes skin rashes, may result in vomiting and liver damage if ingested. The U.S. EPA and the Ohio EPA showed that the toxin returned to safe levels just a few days later but the issue is “too close for comfort” according to the Toledo Blade.

Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/toledos-water-supply-was-contaminated-toxins-algae-180952242/?no-ist

Save A Blade

 

This eco-friendly gadget is available for sale on Amazon.com, we came across it while looking for places that accept used razor blades. This save a blade shaves down razors so that they are sharp again reducing the amount of expensive, metal crafted razor blades that you’ll use! The product description says that 1 razor blade can be resharpened up to 200 times with the Save A Blade.

We often get asked about recycling used razor blades by our customers and 1 easy piece of advice is that you should check with your regular household garbage hauler to see what their policy on sharps are. Often times, they will ask you to wrap the blade up very well in tape so that people shouldn’t get cut, and that can be tossed in your recycling perhaps inside of an empty can if you have one.

Knowing how to recycle razor blades is important, for more information, please click here.

People Stored Used Razor Blades Behind their Walls?!

Stories about illegal waste are some of our favorites because this is one major reason why Green Halo Systems is so revolutionary. In case you didn’t know that strict recycling and disposal regulations are due in part to issues with environmentally devastating dumping like the two examples provided so far, it has played a huge part in our current waste management system.

Anyways, in simpler times some homes had a slit in their medicine cabinet to…drop their old razor blade in and let it slip behind the wood works. This sounds like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story but it has been verified.

 

Well…we learn something new everyday.

Please, Tweet us if you like us @GreenHaloUSA

 

Source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/264800-how-to-dispose-of-used-razor-blades/

San Francisco Will Be World’s First Zero-Waste Town by 2020

San Francisco, California achieved a remarkable diversion rate of 80% which is higher than any other U.S. city and they plan to be a zero-waste city by 2020! Talk about an extreme amount of planning, consideration and most importantly a great shift in habits.

Since 2009 the city’s municipal ordinance requires city-wide source separation of all organic materials, that means that urban food waste and composting measures were put into effect. There are also three bins for composting, recycling and lastly their (sometimes smaller) trash cart! Besides requiring San Franciscans to contribute food waste to compost, and the three bins which encourage recycling, the third effective phenomenon that has been seen in San Francisco is a reduction in the amount of convenience items such as plastic bags that shoppers use.

Now, the city has 20% more waste diversion to go to reach their goal of zero waste and our source has a good point that this last bit might be the most challenging. Although San Francisco has the right incentives, technology, habits and laws, there are still more convenience items in their waste steam that will be key in achieving zero waste.

Please, tell us what you think @greenhalousa on Twitter

Our recent blog posts about San Francisco working towards zero waste:

 

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall–Who’s the Greenest of Them All?
San Francisco Bans Bottled Water on City Property
Cultivate Festival

 

 

Sources: http://bit.ly/UO3Zkg

and

http://bit.ly/1oR5dYq

Estimate sq. mi. of solar panels needed to run the planet on solar power alone

 

Nadine May’s research found that only 25,000 square miles of solar panels would be needed to supply the entire world’s energy needs.

Requirements for solar panels on buildings are on the rise (up 34% this year) and the technology is also improving quickly. For a breakdown on the different types of solar panels please check out our article from last month that broke down the different types and generations of solar panel technology.

The land art generator initiative shows where the 25,000 square miles of solar panels could go around the world to match up to what’s needed. 25,000 square miles is slightly larger than the state of West Virginia but when you look at it on a map like this, it seems easy to achieve.

 

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0729/How-many-solar-panels-would-it-take-to-power-Earth