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#1 Posted : 05 June 2009 00:26:00(UTC)
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Posted By Crim
Not a nice topic but I need some guidance.

Vets practices always have to dispose of dead animals, some large i.e. Great Dane and some small i.e. hamsters.

Vets always have a freezer and good arrangements for collection and cremation.

What if - the freezer is full and there are further dead animals awaiting collection?

What if the collection van breaks down and cannot collect?

Also what should happen to the clinical waste?



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#2 Posted : 05 June 2009 06:44:00(UTC)
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Posted By West
In our company we store the dead animals in speciail double wrapped plastic bags until our biological waste contractor will pick it up. When we find the dead animal, specially trained personnel wear disposible coverall, respirator, rubber gloves to pick it up and place in plastic bag. The he takes all his clothes, while gloves remains on him in such way that body doesn't contact with external side of clothes. Then he dispose his coverall and respirator to the same bag and wrap it.
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#3 Posted : 05 June 2009 09:12:00(UTC)
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Posted By garyh
Ask the EA - it's a waste issue.
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#4 Posted : 05 June 2009 09:54:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ian Blenkharn
This is largely a management issue.

Waste carcasses should be wrapped or bagged in appropriately colour-coded waste bags or bins, labelled to identify their content and refrigerated until collection. Freezing is not necessary unless your collection schedule is infrequent.

Your licensed clinical waste disposal contractor will provide bags and bins, no doubt at a cost, and agree a schedule for collection. Every contractor will have an option for additional unscheduled collections. You must agree this with them, to avoid the unnecessary delays that you are worried about.

Vehicles and equipment will always break down, but this really shouldn't be a big issue. Discuss with your contractor [and perhaps have another contractor lined up for backup], who will help you deal with emergency situations and provide you with a good service.

In the UK, this waste will and must always be incinerated.

If cost is a problem - clinical waste disposal is not cheap - and that is at the root of your concerns about long-term storage in order to reduce the number of collections, then it is truly a management issue, and one that you will have to address properly. Though EA are responsible, with others, for the supervision of clinical waste handling & disposal, they are actually rather poor at the regulation of waste producers. But when they do stir from their slumbers they can make a hell of a mess of your business! Get a licenced waste contractor, and get them to sort it out for you.

Ian Blenkharn
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