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There are many studies into the Hazards associated with Wheelie Bins and Cans. The following Research articles provide some insight and reference information behind these hazards and why it is so important to clean and sterilise your bins frequently.
Articles are
Review of Microbiological Hazards of Municipal & Clinical Wastes
Studies into Microbial content of Household & Clinical Waste
Hazards of Municipal & Clinical waste.
A Review of the microbiological Hazards of Municipal (Household) and Clinical wastes (excerpt from).
C.H. Collins and D.A. Kennedy'
Department of Microbiology, National Heart and Lung Institute,
Dovehouse Street, London, UK and 'The Medical Devices
Directorate, Department of Health, Russell Square, London, UK
4122/02/92: accepted 6 March 1992
SEVERAL STUDIES INTO THE MICROBIAL CONTENT OF HOUSEHOLD AND CLINICAL WASTE HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED:
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Althaus et al. (1983) examined 21 samples of waste from municipal garbage dumps and 264 from hospital areas.
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Household garbage was found to contain more pathogens than hospital waste!
Definition: Pathogens are defined as disease carrying bacteria with the potential to cause illness
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In the same study 21 different pathogens were found in clinical waste, 12 of which were also found in household waste
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In another study Kalnowski et al. (1983) examined waste from surgeries, intensive therapy units, nurseries and households for bacterial content and found that hospital waste was no more contaminated than household waste. Household waste was found to contain more intestinal bacteria than waste from hospitals.
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The bacterial load observed from different types of waste emanating from households was CONSISTENTLY FOUND to contain levels which were 10 to 100,000 times higher than that of hospital waste.
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Mose & Reinthaler (1985) have studied the range of bacteria in hospital waste and found larger numbers, especially of faecal bacteria present in household waste.
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Domestic refuse alone has been examined for pathogenic micro-organisms. In a study of municipal solid waste arriving at eight incinerator sites, Peterson (1971) found that the numbers of viable organisms per gram ranged from 4.0 x l06 to 6.8 x l08,
total coliform organisms from 3.4 x l05 to 5.1 x l07 &
faecal coliforms from 1.5 x l04 to 8.1 x l06.
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There are also various reports, mostly from American scientists, that confirms that ordinary human solid waste from domestic sources contains pathogens (Cook et al. 1967; Peterson 1971; Gaby 1972; Cooper et al. 1975; Ware 1980; Donnelly et al. 1981)
Table below shows the typical sorts of bacteria present in both clinical and municipal waste :
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