Biohazard Waste Cans – What You Need to Know

Containers designed specifically to contain hazardous chemical waste help protect staff while also organizing waste more effectively, which is especially critical when it comes to disposing of potentially harmful materials.

Biohazardous waste includes animal products (carcasses and body parts), contaminated animal bedding, solid lab trash and pathological specimens.

Types

Biohazardous waste falls into four broad categories based on physical form. Each must be segregated, identified and decontaminated in accordance with certain protocols to limit occupational exposure risk as well as environmental release risks.

Liquid biohazardous waste includes blood, saliva and semen as well as laboratory cultures containing infectious pathogens and sample transfer devices from laboratories that have been abandoned, sample transfer devices that contain infectious pathogens as well as synthetic DNA/RNA molecules. Before disposing of any liquid biohazardous waste down the drain it must first be inactivated in an appropriate way to ensure no health hazards exist in its disposal.

Solid biohazardous waste includes non-sharp items that come into contact with potentially infectious specimen materials, such as petri dishes, pipettes and personal protective equipment. Plastic serological pipettes should also be treated as sharps.

These items should be collected in a biohazard bin and sealed, then placed into an autoclave bag for decontamination before being transported to a medical waste landfill facility for disposal.

Locations

Medical facilities take their job of preventing infection and disease spread seriously, using large, brightly-colored containers to segregate potentially hazardous items that need to be discarded.

Receptacles specifically designed to deal with biohazardous waste from hospitals, doctors’ offices and labs include those specifically made for this task. Examples may include used bandages or gauze pieces that have become dirty; blood samples; used syringes and serological pipettes are some examples.

New Jersey has some of the toughest requirements when it comes to medical waste regulation. All regulated waste produced by medical facilities must be transported directly to one of ten facilities specially equipped to treat and dispose of biological material – not through residential neighborhoods or public beaches – in order to prevent contamination by debris wash-up like that which caused Montmouth and Ocean County beaches closures in 2014. Furthermore, all producers of regulated waste must undergo training, tracking, and inspection processes.

Tips

Contrary to popular belief, medical waste disposal doesn’t just happen at hospitals and doctors’ offices; dental clinics and veterinarian clinics all produce medical waste which must be handled responsibly in order to stay out of landfills and cause other organisms in their environments harm.

To ensure your facility remains compliant and safe, there are a few tips to keep in mind when handling biohazardous waste.

First and foremost, ensure all waste containing biohazardous materials is clearly labeled before being placed in its appropriate container. This will reduce accidental exposure while guaranteeing all your waste is handled, treated, and disposed of appropriately.

Be mindful to store all personal belongings away from biohazard containers to avoid embarrassing moments, like dropping your keys or cell phone near an open bag of bloody gauze and bandages.

Disposal

Medical workers deal with bodily fluids from blood to feces on an ongoing basis, from blood to stool. All must be placed in designated waste containers in order to prevent disease transmission; blood contains bacteria which could infiltrate cuts or mucous membranes and cause infections; these containers have locking features so they won’t accidentally get knocked over or tip over accidentally.

Clean-up containers often hold dirty linens, including gowns splattered with blood or lab towels with grimy spots on them. Normal laundering simply isn’t enough to get out the stains, so these items must be stored until professional cleaners can come and properly treat them.

These containers may contain animal carcasses and parts, pathological waste (euthanized animals and bedding contaminated with disease) as well as solid lab trash such as petri dishes and plastic pipettes that must be properly disposed of via UConn’s biohazard waste disposal program to protect personnel while limiting UConn’s liability exposure. Specially marked red bags must then be sealed up before being transported directly to a hazardous waste treatment facility for disposal.