The vast majority of companies today are unaware that new regulations governing the treatment of sanitary waste are making their way through the legislative process and are on their way to becoming law. That’s according to leading health and hygiene solutions provider Bidvest Steiner, which says that incineration of sanitary waste is specifically stipulated in the draft Health Care Risk Waste Management Regulations drawn up by the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs in August 2011. Once promulgated, the updated regulations will mean it is no longer practical to legally dispose of sanitary waste in landfills.
“It has long been unethical and environmentally-irresponsible to dispose of human sanitary waste in landfills because of the danger posed to the people who seek out a living scavenging through dumps. The new laws will be brought up to date to reflect what responsible waste disposal firms should already be doing,” said Bidvest Steiner managing director, Alan Fainman.

He added that companies who think it is acceptable to treat sanitary waste in corporate bathrooms as any other type of office waste are playing a huge gamble. “It is not fair to expect a general cleaner to empty SHE bins in bathrooms because of the risk of exposure to viruses and needle pricks. Unlike your office cleaner all Steiner SHE ladies have been properly inoculated and wear protective clothing,” said Fainman.
“We support the draft regulations as an important step to ridding the health and hygiene solutions industry of fly-by-night operators who simply dump potentially hazardous waste in landfills while conveying the impression to their corporate clients that safe disposal is being practised. The company encourages organisations to do spot checks to determine where their waste is heading when it leaves the company gates,” concluded Fainman.