Identifying the Characteristics After Microwave Inactivation for Recovering Materials to Make Plastic Wood

In hospitals in Colombia, inactivation processes of sanitary wastes are usually carried out by external managers, which are taken directly to the landfill to close the cycle after removing the biological load, which leads to the generation of high CO2 emissions not only for the process implemented, but also for the transport that this implies. This work shows the main results of the inactivation process with a commercial microwave technology, for which it was necessary to run 10 samples of sanitary waste from different areas (surgery, pediatric emergencies, hospitalization, etc.), and evaluate the effectiveness of inactivation by measuring the presence of microorganisms, the inactivated by-products were characterized and analyzed thoroughly to identify their potential as raw material for plastic wood. The carbon footprint associated with the avoided transport to common sites outs/ide the cities to inactivate high volumes of waste and the subsequent emissions associated with the final landfill were also determined. In this sense, it was shown that the inactivation process is efficient and allows compliance with Colombian regulations, since there is no evidence of the presence of microorganisms. In addition, the characterization process identified that the waste contains mainly plastic and textile waste, which makes it a good alternative for obtaining plastic wood and closing the cycle of such waste. Finally, it was evidenced that scenario 1, in which the Sterilwave was used, is undoubtedly the alternative that generates the least emissions in tons of CO2e.