Autoclaving in the management of waste services Health: Brief assessment and outlook

The ease of implantation of autoclaving units for waste from health services, in relation to other thermal treatment technologies, results in a quantitative increase, to the detriment of the quality and safety of this technology and its environmental licensing. Objective: To analyze the conflicts between environmental licensing parameters and the introduction of new technologies, considering a Strategic Environmental Assessment and the individualization of processes. Methods: Exploratory, deductive, bibliographic study, raised, described and analyzed questions about autoclaving, licensing parameters and their relationship in the market. Specialized publications, books, periodicals and scientific articles supported the work. Results: The first equipment for sterilization of residues in Brazil was developed and validated in 1999, being licensed in 2002. The licensing process established the parameters of Organs environmental agencies that appear in all Brazilian equipment: (1) alternating pulses of pressure and vacuum , (2) elimination of air resistance contained in bags, (3) crushing after autoclaving, (4) exposure time of 15 minutes at 151ºC, among others. These are considered necessary to achieve microbial deactivation in waste treatment. ANVISA started to define different situations for this deactivation, requiring, in certain situations, inactivation of 4Log10 (disinfection) and in others 6Log10 (sterilization). The absence of clear and well-founded requirements regarding the level of microbial reduction and the really necessary operational parameters directly interfere in the quality and nominal capacity of the equipment, units and treatment values. Conclusion: Ensuring the continuity of growth in the treatment sector, in a safe way, enabling the participation of new actors in the waste management chain, in order to achieve high quality standards and improvement in autoclaving processes, involves compliance and critical analysis of parameters that punctuate the licensing and proof of technological efficiency, as well as imposing the implementation of new control systems, in the search for better socioeconomic and environmental results. Work extracted and adapted from the original published in the Annals of the III CONCISUS - Sustainable Cities Congress of the Northwest Paulista.