ST. PAUL — Medical waste from hospitals and surgical centers too often gets mixed in with regular trash, and at least one state lawmaker wants to fix that.
Rep. Wayne Johnson, R-Cottage Grove, initially authored a bill to fine medical facilities for the mixing of waste products, but after hearing some pushback, he changed the legislation to study the problem.
Since 1989, hospitals have been required to segregate infectious and pathological waste from general trash and send it to facilities that are licensed to dispose of it. Mistakes occur when blood and body parts are sent to local waste management facilities, Johnson said.
The legislation appropriates $75,000 in 2027 for the Pollution Control Agency to study facilities known to generate infectious waste to ensure they are properly disposing of it.
The bill’s language suggests fines could be considered if it is determined they would be effective in reducing unlawful waste transfers.
Johnson said his goal is to protect employees working in waste facilities. Johnson said he has spoken to people who have walked off the job after discovering infectious waste.
“All of a sudden they come in and look down, and there’s a bag of blood, body parts, feet, to the point you don’t know if you’re calling the sheriff, 911 or what you’re doing,” Johnson said. “It’s causing the facility to shut down and clean and putting these people in danger.”
Employees wear personal protection equipment, but not enough to protect them against needles and blood, said Brad Prazak, an employee of the Ramsey/Washington County Recycling and Energy Center.
When infectious and pathological waste is found in any unauthorized refuse center, the facility has to shut down and open an investigation by identifying the truck number that dropped it off, pickup location and designating a sorting area to go through the load.
The county gets charged for the cleanup fee.
Washington County Commissioner Karla Bigham, said there is no reason for workers to unknowingly be exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases.
“The concern is not with a Band-aid or a tissue from a bloody nose. We are talking about blood and body parts that are liquid, squishy and moist,” Bigham said. “Our tip floor does not need to look like Ed Gein's freezer or barn.”
Prazak, from the Ramsey/Washington County Recycling and Energy Center, said sorting through disturbing and grotesque infectious waste is not a new problem for him and fellow employees.
“I can tell you that I’ve personally seen bones, flesh, hair and scalp matter, soft tissue that I can’t identify,” Prazak said. “One container that I will not forget was labeled ‘monkeypox.’ I’ll never know if that’s what it was, but I don’t want to ever see it again.”
The House Ways and Means Committee approved the bill on May 5, and it’s awaiting a vote in the House.
Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news across the state.
