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EHSS
Waste Management


1. Introduction

These guidelines describe procedures to comply with all Federal and State laws and regulations and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) policy applicable to State-regulated medical and unregulated, but biohazardous, waste (medical/biohazardous waste). These guidelines apply to all LBNL personnel who

·        generate and/or store medical/biohazardous waste,

·        supervise personnel who generate medical/biohazardous waste, or

·        manage a medical/biohazardous waste pickup location.

Personnel generating biohazardous waste at the Joint Genome Institute/Production Genomics Facility (JGI/PGF) are referred to the guidelines contained in Section 9. Section 9 is the only part of these guidelines that apply to JGI/PGF.

Medical/biohazardous waste referred to in this Web site includes biohazardous, sharps, pathological and liquid waste. Procedures for proper storage and disposal are summarized in the Solid Medical/Biohazardous Waste Disposal Procedures Chart. Contact the Waste Management Group flag (WMG) at 486-7579 or your assigned WMG Generator Assistant flag if you have any questions regarding medical/biohazardous waste management.

1.1         Generator Responsibilities

If you are a generator of medical/biohazardous waste, then your responsibilities (as described in more detail in subsequent sections) include:

  • Attending a Medical/Biohazardous Waste Generator Training Class (EHS 730)
  • Characterizing your medical/biohazardous waste (i.e., knowing what type of medical/biohazardous waste you have and whether it is also chemically hazardous or radioactive).
  • Segregating and physically separating medical/biohazardous waste from other waste streams (e.g., hazardous or radioactive waste).
  • Properly storing medical/biohazardous waste in containers lined with red or clear biohazardous bags.
  • Properly storing sharps waste in red sharps containers.
  • Moving medical/biohazardous waste and full sharps containers into medical waste pickup containers for pickup by an outside contractor.
  • Maintaining documentation on the processes or experiments that generate medical/biohazardous waste.

 

1.2         Definitions

Medical/biohazardous waste at LBNL is defined as waste that requires inactivation of the biological material in an approved manner prior to final disposal, and includes but is not limited to the following discarded items:

  • flag Human cells and tissues flag
  • Organisms with recombinant DNA
  • Cultures and stocks of infectious agents
  • Potentially infectious agents (e.g., bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions)
  • Biological material that may contain potentially infectious agents
  • Toxins (e.g., snake venom)
  • Live and attenuated vaccines
  • Blood, blood products, and other potentially infectious materials that may contain human blood-borne pathogens
  • Carcasses and tissues
  • Soil, plants, and pathogens controlled by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
  • Labware and other items that have come into contact with the aforementioned waste steams (e.g., contaminated plastic pipettes, pipette tips, petri dishes, centrifuge tubes, eppendorf tubes, disposable gloves, and wipes)

Infectious material is defined as material capable of transmitting pathogenic microorganisms, their toxins, or prions that may cause disease or injury in healthy human adults.Biologicals are medicinal preparations made from living organisms and their products flagincludingflagserums, vaccines, antigens, and anti-toxins.