Our correspondent Ou Wen, and our Wenzhou-based reporter Miao Lina
The plastic bags in your hand are actually made of used syringes, intravenous tubes...how would you feel upon learning this? In Ouhai, Wenzhou, Liang, Huang, Li, and Chen have been engaging in such activities: they buy and sell medical waste, crush it, and then sell it to plastic bag factories, which use these materials to make plastic bags.
Recently, the Ouhai District People's Court of Wenzhou City handed down a first-instance verdict on this case of illegal trading of hazardous substances. The court sentenced Liang, Huang, Li, and Chen for the crime of illegally trading hazardous substances, with sentences ranging from three years and three months to two years in prison.
It is reported that this is the first case in Zhejiang Province involving the illegal trading of hazardous substances where medical waste was the object of trade.
A flash of an evil thought: selling medical waste to recycling stations
Liang, aged 43, and Huang, aged 46, are from the same hometown in Yueyang County, Hunan. Both work at a medical waste disposal company in Wenzhou, one as a driver and the other as a mover.
Liang has worked at the company for more than three years. His daily job was to collect medical waste from various hospitals in Wenzhou with Huang every morning, and then transport it to a designated location for centralized incineration.
On March day in 2010, while driving past a recycling station owned by Li in Guoxi Town, Ouhai District, Liang and Huang had an evil thought about the truckload of medical waste.
Liang got out of the car and asked Li if he would buy medical waste. Li did not realize that purchasing medical waste constituted an illegal act, so he said he would buy it if it was clean.
Thus, despite knowing that medical waste is classified as hazardous material, between March and August 2010, Liang and Huang sold medical waste four times to Mr. and Mrs. Li at prices of 0.7 yuan or 1.3 yuan per jin (half a kilogram), making a total profit of 1,070 yuan.
Disassembly, crushing, and selling to plastic bag factories
Mr. Li, who runs the recycling station, and his wife Chen, are both from Anhui Province and came to Wenzhou to work five years ago.
In August last year, a member of the public reported that Li’s garbage recycling point illegally acquired a lot of suspected medical waste. On August 23 of the same year, the criminal investigation team of Ou Hai District in Wenzhou conducted an investigation, arrested Li and his wife Chen, and seized on-site 3,088 kilograms of suspected crushed intravenous tubes, 2,746 kilograms of suspected crushed syringes, etc.
Subsequently, Liang and Huang, who illegally sold the medical waste, were also arrested.
Li stated that after acquiring the medical waste, he first removed the needles and regulators. Then, he crushed them using a crusher and sold them, including some powdered medical plastic bottles to plastic bag factories. It is understood that the flow direction of the plastic bags thus produced is currently being investigated by relevant authorities in Wenzhou.
Medical waste poses significant hazards
It is understood that medical waste may contain infectious bacteria, viruses, chemical pollutants, and radioactive substances, posing extremely high risks and being regarded as "deadly killers." China's "National Hazardous Waste Catalog" also lists it as Hazardous Waste No. 1.
So, how harmful are utensils made from medical waste?
According to Mr. Dong Jingshi, Deputy Director of the China Packaging Resources Comprehensive Utilization Committee, although these utensils undergo high-temperature melting during production, some bacteria and viruses cannot be killed by high temperatures.
Additionally, waste plastics often contain heavy metals, including lead stearate. If these harmful substances enter food packaging materials and then enter the human body through food or drinks, they can cause harm.
In 2003, China issued the "Regulations on the Management of Medical Waste," stipulating that medical waste should be centrally disposed of by licensed medical waste disposal units. It also prohibits any unit or individual from transferring or trading medical waste.
What questions still need answering?
This news story is somewhat "shocking." We cannot help but ask: how is it possible that blood-stained, bacteria-laden medical waste could become the plastic bags in our hands?
Is it merely due to the greed for petty profits by the four individuals involved in this case? Probably not.
Does the hospital's transfer of medical waste to a disposal company mean the end of their responsibility for supervising medical waste?
Why was the medical waste disposal company where Liang and Huang work completely unaware of their actions of selling medical waste?
For months, Li and Chen's recycling station has been recovering, processing, and trading medical waste. Where were the relevant regulatory departments?
And those factories that purchase medical waste, who are they? Where do the plastic bags they produce end up?
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We hope to resolve these questions and truly eliminate the threat of medical waste at its source. Ye Lei