CARROT RIVER — The public is being reminded that the recycling bin is not a place to dispose of medical waste after some was found in a bin in Carrot River.
“I know that has happened to other municipalities, especially in the area, but we have been so far so good here. But it certainly was kind of surprising for us today,” said Kevin Trew, Carrot River’s administrator. “It’s very disappointing there was waste in the recycling.”
Trew said the improper disposal of medical waste can put workers at risk.
“Medical waste, certainly if there are sharps or anything like that there is risk of injury, also you’re dealing with human waste, which can have disease or can have microorganisms or anything like that that can attach itself to that. It’s an unnecessary risk.”
This isn’t the first time dangerous items were improperly disposed of in the region. In Nipawin, there were two incidents earlier this summer. The first was where a waste disposal employee was poked by a needle while lifting a garbage bag on the job, and the second was a dozen used needles plus tubing being found improperly placed in a recycling bin.
“You can purchase sharps containers for a very low cost and you can actually take them in to different medical facilities for them to dispose of properly. It’s so very disappointing that it would be disposed of improperly but also in the recycling stream.”
The Carrot River medical waste came from the west side of town on Aug. 22.
Trew said this mistake could cause the whole load of recycling to be thrown in the landfill as it is contaminated.
“The hauler has said that they caught it, so we’re hoping that they were able to remove all the contaminating product from the load so that the load will be recycled.”
Despite finding it, if further down the line additional medical waste was found, it could cause the entire load to be contaminated.
A load is about one tonne of recycling waste.
“Recycling is a very worthwhile program, and the Town of Carrot River is very supportive of it and it has always been looking for ways to take any products that they can out of the landfill situation, because that costs us a lot of money dealing with waste,” Trew said.
