Shredding

One of the major reason for spreading of infections from biomedical waste is reusing of waste discarded by the HCE's. To avoid such infections, the auotoclaved medical waste categories are shredded to pieces before being disposed or recycled.

Shredders are used to destroy plastic and paper waste to prevent their reuse.

Only waste that is disinfected should be used in a shredder. The function of a shredder is to mutilate the already disinfected waste.

The shredder is usually used in combination with an autoclave or a microwave. It could be used in individual institutions or in common treatment and disposal facilities. This also reduces the bulk of waste making transportation easy. The waste is fed into a hopper leading to a set of revolving blades/shafts that cut the waste into small pieces. These pass through a mesh and are collected at the bottom. Larger particles retained on the mesh are once again passed through the cutters. The problems with shredders are mainly due to the shafts or blades that undergo wear and tear and need periodic replacement.

Categories of Bio-medical waste to be shredded are::

1. Syringe
2. Saline Bottles
3. IV Tubes
4. Catheters
5. Other Plastic Tubing