Hospital & Dr. Office Compactor

As in most other areas hospitals and doctor’s offices have different solid waste needs from other businesses.  The medical industry waste stream can generally be broken down into these segments: Sharps, Red Bag medical waste, recyclables, and general trash.  Attentive execution of a precise waste strategy plan is required for the proper handling of any hospital or doctor’s office needs.

Let us deal with the biggest industry specific challenge a medical facility has in their waste stream.  Sharps and red bag medical waste should never, without exception, be dumped into the general trash or recycling compactors.  Sharps have hazards associated with them and require specially trained waste technicians to carefully handle their removal and disposal.  This is because there could be various diseases, illnesses, and medications still in or on the needles.  Also, red bag medical waste is a different kind of waste that requires specialized handling.  Because of the nature of these articles Direct Compactor and Baler cannot help with the compaction of either of these waste materials.

Where we can begin to support your team is with your recyclables and general trash.  From entire hospital systems to single Dr. Office’s Direct Compactor and Baler has a great deal of experience supporting your needs.

Hospitals have a challenge of scale when implementing a trash compaction plan.  The point of compacting does not change.  Recycle because it is good stewardship.  Also, by compacting and recycling your trash hauler makes fewer trips to your facility which will save you money.  Then the old go to truths of limiting odor in the parking lot, limiting rodent’s ability to access your garbage, stopping the community from utilizing your dumpsters for non-hospital trash, and keeping insect populations down.  What does change for hospitals is their volume of solid waste and the safety requirements for dealing with that volume.

Most hospitals employ several self-contained compactors.  These compactors generally sit side by side.  Each with fullness monitors to keep both the hospital and hospital system leadership informed about how often they need additional hauling pick-ups during peak waste events.  Each extra pick up is more money spent and the trend can lead to the need for more equipment to control waste costs.  The self-contained units are for general trash, which hospitals produce a great deal of.  This waste, for sanitation reasons, must be held in a self-contained compactor to keep vermin, odor, and liquids contained.

Additionally, hospitals will have 1 to two stationary compactors.  These compactors are not sealed liquid tight and are designed for the cardboard recycling waste that hospitals generate.  They have a size equivalency to the self-contained compactors because the volume of cardboard a hospital generates is impressive in scope.  A separate solid waste hauler, generally, will pick up these cardboard containers for little or no cost and the hospital system will be reimbursed for the market rate of the cardboard at that time.  This both keeps their trash hauler from charging for all the empty space that cardboard takes up in a dumpster, but it also helps to recoup some additional funds for the valuable cardboard commodity your facility is generating.  Stewardship is important and it is our belief that it takes all of us doing our part to recycle properly.

Both types of compactors have strict safety guidelines that an experienced equipment installation technician will need to implement like hopper opening restrictions, gates, decks, chutes, and other regulatory musts.  Our expert team of install technicians will ensure that you are meeting the highest standard of safety with your trash compaction equipment.

A single Doctor’s office can still output an incredible amount of trash as well.  As stated, before we do not help with sharps or red bag medical waste.  However, there is a lot we can do to assist with your general solid waste and recyclables.

At the very least, most Dr. Offices will need a small trash compactor, regularly referred to as a VIP compactor, this is a bit larger than a dumpster where the compacting hydraulic system goes up vertically instead of the traditional horizontal layout to conserve space.  This will allow these offices to install the equipment, in most cases, in their established dumpster designated space.  If there is more space a traditional self-contained compactor can be used.

If the Doctors office is also seeing a large amount of cardboard, there are indoor vertical balers of varying sizes that can be used.   They are much smaller than the stationary compactors hospitals use, as well as cheaper, but they still do an excellent job of keeping recyclables out of the waste stream to save money on hauling and maintain an excellent level of stewardship.

No matter your situation, we have seen it and can help.  Give us a call today to begin saving money on your trash bill!