Posted By Paul Price I have a problem disposing of our waste because we are a manufacturing / packaging operation the company that used to incinerate the waste now refuse as it contains PVC blisters . The time/ manpower in popping out blisters would run into £000s has anyone come across this problem? If so had did you resolve it ? If anyone knows of a company who will incinerate pharmaceutical waste including PVC please could you let me know . Regards Paul Price

Posted By Descarte Also I think we had a deblistering machine which did the job for you.

Posted By Bill Parkinson Most hospitals now do not have incinerators due to the requirements brought in some years ago. A lot of pharmaceutical waste would fall under the hazardous waste regulations and this means it must go to an appropriate waste disposal facility which is licensed to accept it. There are only a handful (about 6 I think) currently licensed to incinerate pharamaceutical waste. Also in some cases the waste will have to be denatured which means taking it out of the blister packs and mixing it with an absorbant (cat litter is a good one) and then it goes to incineration. Don't forget if you are producing more than 200 kgs per year of this then you should have registered your site(s) with the environment agency in accordance with hazardous waste regs. You will also need to ensure that consginment notices are accurate and properly coded in accordance with the European Waste Catalogue codes as well as the ADR transportation classification. The list of pharmaceutical waste falling under the hazardous waste regs is set to increase dramatically as cytostatic waste is now included. Good luck you will need it !!

Posted By Bill Parkinson Not in operation anymore (checked as have a contact). I have not heard of any hospital incinerator which met the directives which came out in the early to mid 90s and this caused them to shut down. There is a massive cost (£ millions) to be able to burn hazardous waste now hence the reason why there are only a few sites operating.