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New York’s largest health care provider is reducing the spread of Covid-19 by adopting new technology developed by a local firm that safely neutralises infectious medical waste.
Northwell Health, which has 23 hospitals and 800 outpatient facilities, is the first healthcare provider globally to implement Technopath’s new on-site medical waste treatment technology for COVID-19 infected medical waste.
Developed by Technopath Clinical Diagnostics, Ballina, Killaloe, the Envetec 200 system simultaneously shreds and disinfects infectious medical waste using a patented destruction and disinfection process that kills COVID-19 viruses along with all bacteria, spores and other pathogens that pose a danger to human health.
Technopath’s Envetec 200 system supports the urgent need to safely treat infectious waste using a patented destruction and disinfection process that kills COVID-19 and all other viruses and pathogens
Treatment efficiently manages medical waste on-site preventing the further spread of the virus as well as removing public health risks caused by transporting waste across state lines and international borders.
Technopath, Ballina, is scaling manufacturing and commercial expansion to meet anticipated demand for the technology platform.
The technology requires no heat in the process, and no dangerous chemicals emanate from the system at the end of each 20-minute treatment cycle.
The resulting confetti-like solid residue is categorized as regular waste, entirely safe to handle, and can be used in a number of waste to energy and other recycling applications.
According to a recent study by the National Institutes of Health, coronavirus survives on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for up to three days.
“As Northwell Health significantly ramps up COVID-19 testing to over 1,600 samples daily, there is an urgent need to quickly and reliably minimize the risk of spreading disease from infected medical waste,”
“Partnering with Northwell to provide the most advanced, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective technology for the treatment of medical waste infected with coronavirus is allowing us to respond to what the World Health Organization has characterized as a global pandemic,” said Malcolm Bell, CEO and founder of Technopath.
Northwell president and CEO, Michael Dowling said this new technology allows us to remove the unknown risk exposure when disposing of medical waste while avoiding the need for the costly and carbon-inefficient transportation and disposal by third-party handlers. It’s a positive light during a unique time.”
One of the unknown risk exposures to public health safety from COVID-19 is the treatment and disposal of infectious medical waste.
Traditional disposal methods that are widely employed include road-hauling untreated infectious waste from labs and other health care facilities to treatment sites followed by environmentally detrimental thermal treatment and landfilling.
Technopath is making strategic investments in manufacturing capacity, commercial operations and employment as markets expand globally for the treatment of infectious medical waste material.
Northwell Labs installed the Envetec 200 technology in late 2019 and has been awaiting regulatory approval, which was fast-tracked on March 13 when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to allow a series of special emergency-measures.
Governor Cuomo’s executive order accelerated the formal approvals from the US EPA and the New York State Department of Health that had been pending, enabling Northwell to complete the system validation and put the technology to use.
Dan Danaher
