As with any facility in any industry, medical research labs are responsible for managing the waste they produce, including electronic waste in the form of old equipment. However, the circumstances for medical labs differ considerably from other facilities, even others within the healthcare industry like hospitals and clinics.
Turnover of Specialized Equipment
Medical labs, from universities to pharmaceutical companies, must remain at the forefront of the tech available to them. New challenges arise every day for researchers to face, and new technology to approach these problems is developed at a similarly rapid pace. The problem is that this results in a stream of outdated testing equipment that must be handled. Like any other form of e-waste, simply disposing of it in a landfill is irresponsible and, in many cases, either illegal or likely to expose the lab to legal action. This issue is complicated by the fact that much of the equipment used in medical labs are highly specialized, complicating the process of proper disposal. Together, this means that a professional electronics recycling business is the only certain way to properly eliminate unneeded assets.
Handling Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste is a broad, sometimes complicated category, but in general, items are defined as hazardous waste if they’re noted as being flammable, highly reactive, corrosive, or toxic. Some items are also specifically listed as hazardous by authorities such as the EPA. In a medical context, these include blood and tissue samples, microbial cultures, sharp objects like needles or broken glass, pharmaceutical products, and lab-specific cleaners or solutions. These items require their own set of cautions during disposal, which are compounded by e-waste regulations when electronic equipment comes in contact with infectious agents.
Professional recycling services must be able to handle these hazardous substances along with the electronics they come with. Businesses like TechWaste Recycling follow federally-mandated regulations in handling this waste, using just as much care with biohazardous wastes as they do with the harmful substances that can come from used or broken electronics.
Preserving Confidentiality
All medical facilities are subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This act concerns the responsible use and handling of Protected Health Information (PHI), which includes confidential patient information like health records and records of past and current treatments used for patients’ conditions. Such information is restricted in how it can be stored, shared, and destroyed—the last point here is relevant to e-waste recycling and disposal.
How Recycling Your Tech Waste Can Benefit Your Medical or Dental Practice
Secure data destruction is a critical subject for any business or organization, and medical labs are no different. Many pieces of large electronic equipment may have internal storage for patient data, the leak of which could jeopardize their confidentiality or safety. HIPAA violations are a serious matter for hospitals and labs alike. However, professional electronics recycling services are equipped to handle data destruction as part of the decommissioning process. From software-based solutions to thoroughly deleting data on storage media to the physical destruction of hard and solid-state drives, these businesses ensure that no sensitive information escapes being potentially found and abused.
TechWaste Recycling is prepared, with both the specialized equipment and experts needed, to take deprecated lab equipment off your hands, including reclaiming functional electronic components for reuse or resale. To learn more, contact us today.
TechWaste Recycling directly services all of Southern California and provides pickup services to its facilities from nationwide locations. Visit TechWaste Recycling’s website at www.techwasterecycling.com to schedule a pickup that works for your convenience and schedule.
Learn more about TechWaste’s secure recycling process here: Secure Recycling Process
Contact Info:
Richard Steffens
1940 E. Occidental street
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Phone: 866-637-8469
