[Stoves] Request for proposals: Medical Waste Incinerator for Humanitarian Emergencies from Innocentive

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Andrew

People who visit clinics are sick and get injections. Dealing with the
needles is a big issue in a rural where they usually burn in a pit next to
the clinic and then bury what remains. Children end up with the rusty
needles. 

It is not difficult to burn a needle, but necessary. Keeping kids out of
garbage is hard. I suppose you can go for two levels of processing: burn
everything wet and heat everything metal as stage one, then turn everything
to ash or little flakes of rust as the second standard. 

When I first worked on a medical waste process (making the collecting
hardware, bag holders, etc) I was surprised to hear they expected the
incinerator to deal with the metal. It was at the same hospital where very
famously the person nearest the door in ICU on Fridays died in the morning.
Every Friday, month after month.

It turned out the cleaner polished the floors on Fridays. They unplugged the
medical life support equipment from the only plug near the door. Then they
polished the floor, simultaneously polishing off the patient. When done,
they plugged the equipment back in and left. That's a true story.

Regards
Crispin