New technology to replace incineration

The Wastes Management Institute has expressed 'deep concern' at the delay in the closure of the St Luke's Hospital incinerator and stated (September 4) that the favoured choice for its replacement is a 'microwave system'.

Unfortunately, however, microwave systems cannot deal with all waste streams, and moreover, cannot guarantee total decontamination/sterilisation of the waste streams they can process since airborne pathogens are not destroyed in a microwave system. This technology processes the waste, following which the waste will then have to be incinerated or landfilled.

Some of the waste streams that microwave technology cannot deal with include needles and instruments, blood and body fluids, laboratory chemicals, pharmaceuticals and radioactive waste.

These waste streams have the potential to contain deadly viruses (HIV, hepatitis ), prions (BSE), bacteria and fungi. The chemicals will include chemotherapy agents. Radioactive elements are used very often in many medical investigations. They are administered very carefully in very small doses and the patients monitored, as radioactive materials can give rise to cancers.

All hospitals recognise the potential harmful effects of these agents and therefore have very strict guidelines on how to deal with them in such a way as to ensure that exposure of the population to these agents cannot occur.

If a microwave system is unable to deal with the above materials, or cannot guarantee their 100 per cent decontamination, what would be the impact on the environment and eventually the population's health, when all the above are just dumped at Maghtab?

Such materials would eventually enter the water table and the food chain. The result could be disastrous and tragic.

Therefore, microwave system or not, this waste still has to be incinerated.

Microwave technology requires a significant amount of water to process waste. This means a dewatering system is required. This resultant water will obviously be 'high risk' and must therefore be dealt with effectively, with guarantees that it will never enter the sewage system or the water table.

Moreover, microwave systems are notorious for generating objectionable odours that cause significant community concern and displeasure.

This technology is very old and has been superseded by newer and more efficient technologies.

Once it obtains the necessary permits, Startech Malta, of which I form part, plans to install a Plasma Converter System (PCS) in Malta. Startech Malta is the local representative of Startech Environmental Corporation.

The PCS was used by the US army to safely destroy stockpiled chemical weapons. It uses energised plasma gas at temperatures in excess of 20,000 degrees Celsius to destroy any and all wastes at a molecular level, returning the waste to its original elemental form such as synthetic gas, metals and silicates which are all non-hazardous. The gas can be used to generate electricity, while the metals and silicates can be used in construction.

There is a volume reduction of 300 to 1 when waste is processed in a PCS; while when a microwave system processes waste, the resulting waste is often greater than the initial amount fed into the system.

In the case of medical waste, as opposed to any other process, there is no need for sorting, incineration or landfilling.

As microwave technology does not come cheaply, does not eliminate the need for incineration, is not a complete waste management solution and actually creates more problems than it solves, we at Startech are offering the hospital the use of the PCS to safely and definitively destroy all of its waste at a fixed price per metric tonne. Thus, there will be no capital expenditure but a fixed cost per tonne, which we are sure will not only be known/quantifiable, but significantly lower.