Regulated Medical Waste
Regulated medical waste (RMW), also known as “biohazardous” waste or “infectious medical” waste, is the portion of the waste stream generated by healthcare facilities that may be contaminated by blood, body fluids or other potentially infectious materials, thus posing a significant risk of transmitting infection and endangering human health.
Growing awareness of HIV/AIDS in the late 1980s, along with several prominent incidents of medical waste washing up on the beaches of the East coast were the inspiration for increased regulatory oversight of medical waste. As a whole set of new rules emerged, healthcare facilities began to routinely dispose of the majority of healthcare-generated waste in red bags. Subsequently, healthcare facilities found themselves increasing their waste budgets by hundreds of thousands of dollars as they paid between 5-10 times as much for disposal of RMW as they did for solid waste disposal.
Not long after, environmental and public health concerns began to emerge around the treatment of medical waste. Incineration— then the primary mode of disposal of RMW— was identified as being a primary source of mercury and the toxic chemical dioxin to the environment. In their efforts to protect human health from the infectious potential of RMW, healthcare facilities were inadvertently creating additional health risks to the population.
As more accurate information about the infectious potential of various healthcare-generated waste streams has come to light, facilities have begun to implement waste segregation programs that minimize the amount of waste disposed of as RMW, but have had to balance the goals of these programs with state enforcement efforts that have left many facilities scared to segregate. The good news is that many healthcare facilities have now implemented comprehensive segregation programs that ensure compliance while minimizing RMW volumes to just 8-15% of their waste streams, and have chosen to mvoe away from incineration to more environmentally friendly modes of disinfection.
Practice Greenhealth can help your facility achieve similar goals.
The RMW section of the Practice Greenhealth website will walk your facility through the regulatory obligations for RMW management, and then demonstrate how to develop a successful RMW minimization program that has the potential to save your facility thousands of dollars while reducing the facility’s environmental impact. See below for more information about specific pages of interest.
This page takes you through a step-by-step process for developing and implementing an RMW minimization program. Learn how to save money, reduce environmental impact and ensure compliance! This section also showcases best management practices for:
- Reusable Sharps Containers
- Liquid Medical Waste Management
- Single-Use Device Reprocessing
This page provides more in-depth information on the classification of different kinds of RMW, including liquid medical waste, isolation wastes, microbiological waste, pathological & anatomical waste, sharps, and animal waste.
This page highlights the overlapping regulatory bodies who oversee the management of RMW, and provides direct links to applicable regulations.
This page provides links directly to state-specific regulations for medical waste identification and management.
This page takes a closer look at the kinds of medical waste treatment technologies on the market and highlights environmental and/or regulatory concerns.
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