I just want to start this off by saying "It's Margarita Day!" and for once I didn't give up anything for Lent that would prevent me from enjoying it. Even the margarita mix is in a glass bottle which my partner bought for that express reason, that it was not plastic, of course that also meant that it was organic, which was not necessary, but whatever. Fine. I guess that's a bonus. (?)
Not that I am drinking a margarita. I'm just noting the day.
Anywho, on Saturday I learned the fascinating fact that I have managed to donate over 25 pints of O- whole blood in my lifetime, and since there are 8 pints in each gallon, that means I've donated over 3 gallons of blood! I could fit it in my fridge, but it wouldn't fit in a backpack. This feels simultaneously significant and insufficient.
While pondering this fact with my phlebotomist Dennise (I was so pleased to find someone as chatty as me) and chatting about my darling good right-arm-veins, I asked if she happened to know what sort of plastic the blood bags were made of; she did not, but she did recall one petrochemist donor and explained to her in exacting detail how difficult they were to make. Apparently we plebians do not appreciate exactly how difficult it is to produce medical grade plastics, with the quality checks and precision performance required of equipment that saves and maintains lives. A moment of silent appreciation was held for medical grade plastic.
She then began to share of her own accord how much she liked recycling, but that her neighborhood in the southwest part of Little Rock did not have recycling. This was confusing, as I thought the city recycling was done by wards. I resolved to look it up later. I shared that there was a map on the city website, and she said she'd look it up too, but that she hated saving up recyclables and then not being able to properly dispose of them, which had happened so often that she'd basically given up. I imagined this was the same for her whole neighborhood.
Meanwhile Dennise was looking at the bloodbags for a recycling symbol, when both of us realized that of course it wouldn't have a recycling symbol on it, because any use of them at all would make the biohazards--and to our knowledge, all biohazards were either incinerated or perhaps buried (we agreed that maybe not all were incinerated). Thus began challenge 3a "where are our city's recycling regions" and 3b "what the hell happens to biohazard plastic bags?"
So 3a is pretty easy: you can find the map here. Thing is, Dennise would have to live pretty far to the southwest to not be covered. I'm thinking that if I've got the guts, I might bring the map to the Red Cross and leave it for her, even asking if she's in a covered area. BECAUSE, and I'm not saying this is a possibility even though it is, that she's not getting service when she SHOULD. And from a strictly legal standpoint, her taxes pay for that service. So there.
3b took more research: I first googled "what plastic are blood bags made of?" I got a surprising number of hits. The first of which wasa patent application for blood bags. Here is a quote from the paper. "Multiple blood bag systems currently available are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plasticized with di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). Whole blood can be stored at about 5°C. for up to 21 days in bags of such a formulation without significantly reducing the quantity of surviving red cells so that the blood can be used within this period of time for transfusion...U.S. Patent No. 4,222,379 discloses a multiple blood bag system in which the blood storage bag (donor bag) is made of conventional PVC formulation containing DEHP plasticizer. ... It was discovered that it was the DEHP extracted or leached from the plastic by the blood which was responsible for inhibiting hemolysis of the red cells and thus allowed them to be stored for 21 days without generating significant amounts of hemoglobin. Thus the high degree of survival appeared to be dependent upon the presence of DEHP."
In short, while this patent made it possible to avoid DEHP contamination for some blood products, it was precisely the DEHP plasticizer that made it possible for the blood product to keep for so long! Amazing! Do you see? Plastic actually HELPS the blood keep fresh! This statement is further repeated by the American Association of Blood Banks, who rather grudgingly admit that while maybe maybe DEHP causes cancer and feminization of male subjects, the FDA hasn't made them remove it, only recommended it, so YOUR BLOOD BAGS TOTALLY CONTAIN DEHP. The more you know. Upside: the blood contained in it lasts longer because it does. It's a trade off I guess.
AND THEN I FOUND SHANGRILA. By that I mean, "I found this one guys presentation on the development of blood bags over history." whoa! Wow! I read the whole thing! It's fascinating! It's an amazing testament to the human will to innovate and achieve! It's also a 57 page PowerPoint, so I read the outline. But thank you Dr. Ravi C Dara for sharing your wealth of knowledge, even if it isn't very succinct.
Also, Dr. Dara shared that blood bags are usually PVC due to their chemical inertness, durability, sterilizable, heat sealable, low cost production; polyvinyl chloride plastic is #3 and is thus totally recyclable...if it weren't full of blood and thus completely unrecyclable in most cases.
Seriously though, it's a great PowerPoint, you should watch.
But back to the original question, and its subtext: what happens to PVC if you burn it as biohazard?
Well, for starters, PVC is a halogenated plastic that releases dioxins when burned. According to this website, "Dioxin is a known human carcinogen and the most potent synthetic carcinogen ever tested in laboratory animals. A characterization by the National Institute of Standards and Technology of cancer causing potential evaluated dioxin as over 10,000 times more potent than the next highest chemical (diethanol amine), half a million times more than arsenic and a million or more times greater than all others.
The World Health Organization said “Once dioxins have entered the environment or body, they are there to stay due to their uncanny ability to dissolve in fats and to their rock-solid chemical stability.”That is because dioxins are classed as one of the persistant organic pollutants, POPs, also known as as PBTs (Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic) or TOMPs (Toxic Organic Micro Pollutants.)
POPs are a small set of toxic chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods and accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals. They are extremely toxic and cause all manner of illnesses."
Well poop. No one wants to hear that. So are most blood bags incinerated, or magically sterilized and recycled? ...
A short review of many, many Environmental Health and Safetry procedures seems to indicate that most anything touched by blood and body fluids are autoclaved, which is to say sterilized into melting in some cases of plastic, but definitely not recycled. This feels like I'm missing some information. I wonder if a call to a hospital could reveal more information.
So there you have it. Happy Margarita Day!
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