8. Solid Medical Waste Disposal Procedures
Chart |
| Sharps
Container
|
Lab
Container
|
Pathology
Container
|
Pickup
Container
|
Used
for ─
All:
Needles with or without syringes or tubing
Blades (razors, scalpels, etc.)
Contaminated only with medical/biohazardous waste:
Broken glass
Glass pipettes
Microscope slides
Other sharp items
|
Used
for ─
Any solid contaminated with medical/
biohazardous waste that does not go into a sharps container or a pathology
container
Can accept sharps containers
|
Used
for ─
Animal carcasses
Large tissue specimens
Recognizable human or animal body parts and tissues
|
Used for ─
Red-bagged
regulated medical waste from lab containers
Clear-bagged
biohazardous waste from lab containers
Regulated medical waste sharps containers
Unregulated
waste sharps containers
|
Bag
color:
Regulated medical waste sharps must be deposited
into a container lined with a red bag.
Unregulated waste sharps may go
into a lab container lined with a clear bag or into the pickup container
lined with a red bag.
|
Bag
color:
Regulated medical waste must be deposited into a
container lined with a red bag.
Unregulated biohazardous waste goes into a container
lined with a clear bag.
|
Bag
color:
Store regulated medical pathology waste in a closed red bag in the freezer.
Store unregulated pathology waste in a closed clear
bag in the freezer.
Line the pathology pickup container with a red bag. This container accepts all pathology waste.
|
Bag color:
Line the
pickup container with a red bag. This
container accepts clear-bagged waste and red-bagged waste in the same pickup
container.
|
Labels:
Regulated medical waste sharps
must have the biohazard label or symbol.
Unregulated waste sharps are labeled unregulated
sharps.
|
Labels:
Lab containers for medical/biohazardous must have
biohazard labels or symbols.
|
Labels:
Write your name and extension plus the date waste is
put into freezer on the bagged waste.
The pathology pickup container
is labeled biohazard and pathology waste.
|
Labels:
Pickup
containers must have biohazard labels or symbols.
|
Storage
time limit:
Sharps containers may be used until they are 2/3
full. Dispose of the sharps container the same day it is closed. |
Storage time limit:
Dispose of regulated medical waste (red bag) weekly.
Transfer unregulated biohazardous waste (clear bag)
when the bag is full.
|
Storage
time limit:
Best-management practice is to store pathology waste
in the freezer for no more than 7 days. The maximum amount of time regulated
pathology waste is allowed to be stored in the freezer is 90 days.
|
Storage time limit:
Pickup
containers with waste must be removed for treatment every 7 days.
|
Disposal: Close the
sharps container when 2/3 full. Dispose of in either a lab container or a
pickup container. Fill out a Medical Waste Accumulation Log. |
Disposal: Tie or tape
the bag closed and carry it in the lab container to the pickup container.
Fill out a Medical Waste Accumulation Log. |
Disposal: Transfer
bagged waste to pathology pickup container for contractor to pickup for
offsite treatment and disposal. Fill out a Medical Waste Accumulation Log. |
Disposal: Contractor
picks up the waste every Wednesday morning for offsite treatment and
disposal. |
