This week, waste haulers, processors, and distributors from around the country are gathering in Las Vegas to share insights, network, and learn about legislative, regulatory, and technical issues affecting waste professionals.
Attendees of the Waste360 Healthcare Waste Conference are spending two jam-packed days discussing ways to improve the efficiency and reliability of healthcare waste management. The meeting’s agenda includes a variety of sessions that explore how entities can maintain compliance, respond to evolving trends, and embrace more responsible approaches to healthcare waste handling and disposal.
Stericycle’s Cara Simaga, senior director of regulatory affairs, will speak at multiple points throughout the conference. On day one, Cara is presenting legislative and regulatory updates—an especially timely topic given the emerging requirements related to COVID-19 and the safe and secure disposal of testing, treatment, and vaccination waste.
Cara will also participate in a panel discussion on day two that digs deeper into the issue of COVID-19, exploring business considerations and how lessons learned can be applied to other infectious diseases with which waste management professionals may have to contend in the future.
Looking Beyond Healthcare
The Healthcare Waste Conference is just one waste management event occurring in Las Vegas this week. The Waste 360 Waste EXPO—the largest solid waste and recycling gathering in North America—is also underway. Cara is speaking at this event as well, covering the ABCs of medical waste for solid waste transporters and disposal companies. Session attendees will learn about common medical waste streams, focusing on the distinctions that make some waste eligible for solid waste disposal and some not. During her presentation, she will outline where medical waste is generated, how it's regulated, and why this type of waste should be on a solid waste company’s radar. More specifically, she hopes to help teach attendees about the many types of medical waste generated in healthcare and at homes in order raise awareness and build partnerships with this important industry since treated medical waste is also disposed by our partners in the solid waste industry.
As a leader in healthcare waste management, with deep expertise in regulatory compliance and creating biohazardous waste management programs, Cara is uniquely qualified to provide valuable insights and advice at both waste management events. Using her rich industry knowledge, she will educate those inside and outside of healthcare about key topics impacting day-to-day operations as well as future strategic planning.
Cara is just one of Stericycle’s leaders participating in these waste management meetings. Mo Azose, vice president of operational environmental health and safety for Stericycle, is discussing the nuances involved in the thermal destruction of medical waste. Mo began his career at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and has held a wide range of leadership positions at Stericycle and its predecessor companies in; Environmental Health and Safety, Operational Compliance, RCRA Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility (TSDF) operations, and hazardous waste field service operations. He has extensive experience managing Environmental Health and Safety potential liabilities, developing proactive programs to address these issues in an effective and efficient manner. His presentation takes place during the afternoon of the Healthcare Waste Conference’s first day. This practical session will help attendees appreciate when thermal destruction is warranted and what’s involved in the process.
Learn more about how Stericycle can help your organization ensure compliant and efficient waste management.
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