Just listening to ABC Radio, a discussion is about the huge mountains of medical waste in Indonesia.
I have before said why not dump such waste into live volcanoes of which Indonesia has quite a few. A member of the Australian Atomic commission replied to my suggestion about doing that with atomic waste that this would make the lava radioactive. Would there be a similar problem with medical waste ? Lava is anywhere between 700° C -1200 ° C. Would that not be sufficient to destroy medical waste over a short period ? The 1600 ° C recommended for medical waste would probably be to destroy the waste in as short as possible a time due to enormous energy requirement but in a live lava pit time would not be of any consequence.
If this could work wouldn't that solve many problems from environmental to economic.
Sacrificial drones could be deployed. What do the more enlightened among OLO think ?

individual,
I think that it’s a great idea and need not be confined to medical waste; no need to waste drones, they could be configured as bombers (already available) and have a long economic life.

individual,

Would you really approach the vent of an active volcano?

I wouldn't. Safety first.

And -

How the heck would you transport the garbage up there?
It would cost time, money, fuel. But that's the least
of your worries. Do we know if volcanoes are hot enough
to melt or sterilize medical waste or nuclear waste, or
any kind of garbage? How hot are the temperatures of
lava? They may be hot, but are they hot enough?

I don't think it's as simple as all that.

There's more at:

http://abc.net.auscience/articles/2008/06/26/2286487.htm

And -

http://popsci.com/why-dont-we-just-throw-all-our-garbage-into-volcanos/

Here's the first link again:

http://abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/06/26/2286487.htm

Leave it to the Indonesians.

ttbn,
Australia has that problem too & no volcanoes !
Severely biologically contaminated waste would become nothing in a few moments after being consumed by the molten rock. Technically it's not even worth thinking of it as a problem & economically it should be thought of as a windfall.
Packages could be either dropped from drones or catapulted depending on the accessibility to these natural incinerators provided free of charge.
Just think of the reduction in energy requirements & emission. Also, Indonesia & perhaps PNG could do with a non-polluting extra industry.

"Australia has that problem too & no volcanoes !"

I understand Professor Nincompoop who was recently appointed head of Modern Australian Development, MAD for short, has made that very problem his life's work. Pr. Nincompoop suggests that we buy several 100 megaton unused atomic bombs from a large unnamed friendly alley located somewhere between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Pr. Nincompoop has calculated the location for Australia's first man made volcano should be a safe distance from the national capital, Canberra, located about 10km from the city centre would be ideal. According to Pr. Nincompoop the resultant blast from the detonation of these several A-bombs will only be slightly larger that the explosion of the island of Krakatoa in 1883, and will result in our very own man made volcano twice the size of Mt. Vesuvius.

Indy, you thought you were going to miss out, no you're not. The army of old folk from the Seniors National Service will be tasked with transporting all that unwanted rubbish up Mount Nincompoop (named in honour of the good professor) for disposal. With backpacks loaded with spent plutonium and a cut lunch our hardy oldies will joyfully undertake on our behalf the disposal of all that nasty stuff up there in Mount Nincompoop. Problem solved!

The very people who demand medical care at a moment's notice should be made to spend a week working at the medical waste disposal section of a hospital. They'd voluntarily jump into that hole at Mt Nincompoop rather than do the work.

individual,

OK. If there is a similar problem in Australia - although I have to admit that I've not heard of it, apart from nuclear medicine waste which we seem to be dealing with - let's concentrate on that, and let foreigners do their own thing. I have to say though, that all these "problems" cropping up could be just part of the usual suspects scaremongering to control people all the time. Covid, climate change, are starting to lose their grip, so something else has to be thought up. For me, the China threat is what we should be concentrating on.

Of course, if Australia can be made to see that we are the ideal place to store all sorts of waste, and make money out of doing so, we could be taking the problems off geological unstable countries like Indonesia and overpopulated Europe.

Individual,
To properly destroy medical waste it should be heated to 1100°C.
Doing so in volcanoes isn't as easy as it sounds. I'm not saying it can't be done, but thermal conductivity is not always as high as you might assume, and lava can cool down pretty quickly

To properly destroy medical waste it should be heated to 1100°C.
Aidan,
Yes, I read that but when one considers that it won't get taken out of the volcano again, surely it'll disintegrate with ongoing boiling 24/7.
I mean isn't the maintaining of such temperature that is the technical & environmental difficulty ?
In a volcano that goes without having to do anything apart from throwing it it. Of course we shouldn't throw thousands of tonnes of waste into a little 3 metre diameter volcano but some of the larger live ones should really be tested to do the job. At least try to do with highly contaminated waste & see how it goes. Sharps etc would very quickly melt & mix with the molten rock, better than burying them !

individual,
Why do you assume it won't get taken out of the volcano again? The lava moves to where it cools.

The lava moves to where it cools.
Aidan,
By then there's absolutely no biological hazard left ! Some "scientist" will probably say there will be but I'm certain it will be a billionth less polluting than not being burned & mixed with molten rock ! With some luck it might even end up as "rare Earth".

Aidan,
At least you didn't write Larva as one of Qld Ed. teachers corrected it to in a drawing of an indigenous 9 year old girl in a community when she wrote Lava !

individual,
What do you base that assumption on? Are you forgetting the waste would float in the lava?

As for "rare earth", that's not what it means. Rare earths are specific elements: scandium, yttrium, lanthanum and all the lanthanides.

waste would float in the lava..
Rare earths are specific elements
Aidan,
Are you sure or are just not in favour of trying to solve the medical waste problem.
Are you sure they won't be in a Million years ?
It doesn't matter if it takes longer than your patience as long as it reduces the waste !

Aidan,
I have never seen lava nor even a volcano, I've only ever seen that on TV. What can be deduced from such footage is that anything in the way of a lava flow isn't there anymore afterwards. What'd be the reason to think that medical waste would remain even after days of tumbling around molten, burning & glowing hot rock ?

By the time the lava cools the waste will be turned to minute particles of ash and set in rock, any germs etc., will have long gone.

Individual,
Are you sure you want me to answer that?
Or would you, like many on this board, prefer to only hear from people who think you're right, and ignore potential problems (even when they're very likely to occur)?

If you really are after the truth, don't just take my word for it; look up rare earths yourself - you'll see I'm right!

And of course I'm not against trying to solve the medical waste problem. But the easiest way to solve it is with high temperature incineration. And as I said in my original post here, disposal in volcanoes isn't as easy as it sounds. The technical challenges aren't insurmountable, but they're enough to make it unlikely to be the cheap option you blindly assume it to be.

Perhaps someone can tell me what they are actually frightened of? Do things like Covid have superhuman capacity? It sounds like you are trying to get people believe germs and viruses have supernatural powers. Just because some addled, greedy, idiot public service buffoon says 1100 degrees Celsius means nothing but huge extra expense and corruption. Where is the organism that can stand 100 degrees? This is the usual PS response to serious but easily fixed problems. I think it is a great idea but that the delivery will be far harder than first appearance. Still it is always good to explore.

look up rare earths yourself - you'll see I'm right
Aidan,
The rare earth part was meant light-heartedy. My point was that in the distant future our present waste could possibly become a useful if not valuable resource.

Been to the island of Hawaii and seen the volcano Mt. Kilauea. Its a large island, the largest in the Hawaiian group. The population is not huge about 200k, and the island is more than half the total area of Hawaii. How people live on such a place is beyond me. Covered with black lava flows, which resemble giant car parks. There is a general lack of water, people take their tank on wheels to get water from government bores. Besides tourism, cattle ranching is the big industry. The volcano dominates the island, and all aspects of life are tied to it. It shows how powerful nature can be and the efforts of man to "control" nature are puny in comparison to natures strength.

Look what happened a few weeks back when that Spanish bloke missed the Tuesday night wheelie bin pick up on the Canary Island of La Palma and decided to dump his rubbish in the Cumbre Vieja volcano. All was quiet until he threw in that last bag of smelly enchiladas. Now look at the place. Me thinks we better not throw our rubbish in volcanos.

Is it perhaps possible that if volcanoes are kept 'open' they'll less likely 'explode' ? I mean if there's not pressure build-up to throw magma all over the villages ?
If Paul1405's mate hadn't thrown enchiladas which are bio-degradable, into the volcano but had thrown un-biodegradable old engine oil into it things might have turned out better. Bad things always happen when silly people prevent thinkers from doing good things !
There'll always be waste no matter what. It's the kind of waste we must focus on.
Toxic un-biodegradable is the problem not biodegradable. Then there's other waste, waste of space Left indoctrinated, waste of time Lefties, waste of resources greed mongers etc.
A one-way snorkelling trip to Magma Lake would solve those too !

Hi Indy,

I believe man has made some little use of volcanic action, with the generation of electricity and the use of hot springs. The Maori used hot springs to cook kai (food) for hundreds of years. Been to Rotorua NZ, sometimes referred to as Rottenrua, due to the sulphur smell when the wind blows in the wrong direction. I though it was a bit disconcerting to have steam vents in your backyard, but the people there seemed to accept it as normal.

Not sure how good man would be at controlling volcanos. It might be as successful as Professor Nincompoops program of training Grizzle Bears to be restraint waiters. After 20 years Pr. Nincompoop decided Grizzle Bears didn't have the aptitude to be waiters, so he's now training them to be taxi drivers, do they have the aptitude, we'll find out from the good professor in 20 years time.

man has made some little use of volcanic action,
Paul1405,
Well, the ultra massive waste created by COVID-19 might induce man to look at these natural incinerators in a different light !
I for one hope so !