[Medical Waste Reduction Project] Site Inspection Vol.1 ～Kankyo kaihatsu Co, Ltd.～
Hello! In our medical waste reduction project, we have been conducting research based on literature, but in the course of our study, we wanted to confirm the actual flow of how discarded waste is disposed of, so we visited an industrial waste disposal company, Kankyo kaihatsu Co, Ltd., for our first site visit. We will summarize what we saw, heard, and thought at the sites we visited, so please read to the end!
Characteristics of the Sites Visited
Kankyo kaihatsu Co,Ltd. is one of the few companies in the prefecture that handles the entire process of collecting, transporting, intermediate treatment, and final disposal of general and industrial waste. In particular, the company has installed cold storage facilities and handles infectious waste generated by hospitals in and outside the prefecture.
Visiting Facilities
The inspection tours included visits to the following facilities.
Storage facilities
Intermediate treatment facility (No. 9 incinerator)
Recycling plant（PRF production)
Key Points
1． Infectious Waste
The infectious waste was stored in specific containers (MIPPAIL) and kept in cold storage at the storage facility. We were told that the lids of these containers were closed when they were disposed of by the hospital, and the people at the treatment site had no idea what was inside. Also, since the entire container is incinerated, even if there were recyclable materials in it, they would not be able to identify them. Infectious waste is disposed of not only by hospitals but also by universities, including waste from medical college exercises. He also told us that the amount of infectious waste had increased due to the coronavirus pandemic disaster, which led us to believe that the amount of waste generated from medical facilities would also increase as infection and the coronavirus pandemic strengthened. When we asked about the problems that industrial waste disposal companies experience with infectious waste, several issues came to light. For example, blood leaks from containers that have not been sealed due to overfilling during transportation, and needles remain in cinders after incineration, which can cause puncture wounds and threaten employee safety.
2． Safety and Environmentally Friendly Facilities
The storage facility and incinerator were equipped with double shutters to prevent odors from leaking into the surrounding area. We were also told that an emergency shutdown system had been installed to automatically shut down the incinerator in the event of an earthquake of intensity 4 or higher, thus ensuring the safety of the facility. The “No. 9 Incinerator” we visited received the “Small and Medium Enterprise Agency Commissioner's Award” in the energy conservation case study category at the Energy Conservation Grand Prize 2008, and we learned that the incinerator is built in consideration of the environment, for example, by using waste heat from the incinerator to generate steam power.
3． Initiatives to Create New Value from Garbage
★Recycling at recycling plant
At the recycling plant, plastics, fiber scraps, paper, and other materials discarded by companies were crushed and granulated to produce pellets. These pellets are then used as fuel for steel mills and paper mills and shipped as recycled products.
★Effective Utilization of Thermal Energy
There are plastic greenhouses near the Shinbo treatment plant and they are working with local farmers to grow green peppers and midi-tomatoes. They are trying to supply waste heat from the incinerator to the greenhouses to ensure a stable harvest.
The vegetables grown here are sold, and I had a tasty tomato!
Summary
We visited Kankyo kaihatsu Co, Ltd. for the first time for a site visit and were very impressed by the courteous staff who gave me a tour of the company and showed me how seriously they are thinking about how to reduce the burden on the environment. I was also impressed by the company's emphasis on cooperation with the local community in addition to its concern for the environment. Through the visit, I learned that thanks to the efforts of industrial waste disposal companies, garbage is not just garbage, but can be regarded as a resource that generates heat energy and can be recycled to become fuel. We learned that reducing waste is not always the best way to care for the environment. In addition, since it was thought that there is no room for intervention concerning infectious waste once it has been discarded, we wanted to conduct a site visit to a medical facility where garbage is discarded to find out about issues from a different perspective.
Thank you very much for reading the article through to the end!
Nomachi Accelerator Program
Youth Innovator,
Ayasa Terada
Inspection Cooperation：Kankyo kaihatsu Co,Ltd.
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