Building a Drum Incinerator

In general, a drum incinerator is only useful for small, usually rural, facilities that do not have large quantities of medical waste. If your facility is large, it is more efficient to build or install an incinerator large enough to accommodate all of your facility's waste-disposal needs.

When using your drum incinerator:

• Choose a place that is downwind from the clinic to prevent smoke and odors from coming into the clinic.
• Make sure there are sufficient air inlets on the side of the oil drum and bottom of the fire bed for efficient burning.
• Place the incinerator on hardened earth or a concrete base to prevent grass from catching fire during the burning process.
• Burn only medical waste. Use a regular community disposal site for general waste. This will conserve both time and resources.
• Treat the ash as general waste. Bury or otherwise dispose of it in a designated area.

Note:
Medical waste may not burn easily, especially if it is wet. Add kerosene to make the fire hot enough to burn all waste. Be sure to add the kerosene before starting the fire--adding kerosene after the fire has started might cause an explosion.

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