Medical waste disposal and container washing system

A method of operating a medical waste disposal and container washing system comprising:

• loading medical waste containers to the medical waste disposal and container washing system, the medical waste containers including medical waste enclosed therein by a lid;
• removing the lid from each medical waste container with a robotic tool following the loading of the medical waste container to the medical waste disposal and container washing system;
• transporting the medical waste containers via a conveyor system to an inversion station including a gripper inverter conveyor,
• setting a vertical position of a top of each medical waste container to a same predetermined height with respect to the inversion station, despite differences in height of the medical waste containers, by a height adjustment within the conveyor system;
• reorienting each of the medical waste containers at the inversion station from a first orientation in which the medical waste is retained within the medical waste containers as the medical waste containers are moved within the inversion station to a second orientation in which the medical waste is discharged from the medical waste containers by gravity as the medical waste containers are moved within the inversion station;
• transporting the medical waste containers in the second orientation through a first wash station located along the conveyor system to wash an interior of the medical waste containers that has been reoriented to the second orientation;
• transporting the medical waste containers through a second wash station located along the conveyor system and downstream from the first wash station;
• and
• collecting and removing the medical waste from the medical waste disposal and container washing system.