The Use of Semi-Permeable Bags for Managing Waste Materials Following a Biological Contamination Incident
Citation:
Lemieux, P. AND S. Serre. The Use of Semi-Permeable Bags for Managing Waste Materials Following a Biological Contamination Incident. AWMA Information Exchange, Durham, NC, December 06 - 07, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation for AWMA Information Exchange, December 6-7, 2022, Durham, NC. This presentation will describe the AnCOR waste activities to the audience, including the bench-scale tests and the tests at the wide-area demonstration.
Description:
Clean up following the wide-area release of a persistent biological agent has the potential to generate significant waste. Waste containing residual levels of biological contaminants may require off-site shipment under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s solid waste regulations for Category A infectious agents, which has packaging and size limitations that do not accommodate large quantities. Treating the waste on site to inactivate the bio-contaminants could alleviate the need for Category A shipping and open the possibility for categorizing the waste as conventional solid waste with similar shipping requirements as municipal garbage. To collect and package waste for on-site treatment, a semi-permeable nonwoven-based fabric was developed. The fabric was designed to contain residual bio-contaminants while providing sufficient permeability for penetration by a gaseous decontamination agent. The nonwoven fabric was successfully tested at the bench-scale and then successfully tested in the field at the AnCOR wide area demonstration.