Wyoming

Medical/Infectious Waste

Waste Categories

Wyoming classifies wastes generated by healthcare facilities into four main categories:

Hazardous waste. This refers to a class of wastes specifically defined

in a federal law (the Resource conservation and Recovery Act,

or RCRA).  These wastes contain certain toxic chemicals or have

certain characteristics that cause them to be a significant risk

to the environment and/or human health.  Some certain chemotherapy

waste is hazardous waste.  In Wyoming, hazardous waste regulations

are enforced by the Wyoming Department of Environmental   Quality

Hospital waste. Waste

discards generated at a hospital, except unused items returned

to the manufacturer. The definition of hospital waste does not

include human corpses, remains, and anatomical parts that are intended

for interment or cremation.

Medical/infectious waste. These are a special subcategory of hospital wastes that present significant health risks such as the potential for infectious disease transmission, and special rules apply to them when they are incinerated.

Municipal

solid waste. These wastes present fewer environmental or

health risks than medical wastes. Municipal solid waste can

be disposed of into dumpsters.

Categorizing Your Wastes

It is important that you categorize your facility’s waste accurately.

• Hazardous

  waste disposed of as infectious medical waste or municipal solid

  waste, or infectious medical waste disposed of as municipal solid

  waste are violations of the law and can result in substantial

  penalties.

• Conversely,

  most hospital waste may be handled as general solid waste and

  does not require special handling or treatment.

• Correctly

  identifying and segregating your medical/infectious waste can

  reduce the cost of disposal. Infectious medical waste makes

  up only a small portion of the total hospital waste stream. Some

  facilities, such as long-term care facilities, generate hospital

  waste, but little or no medical/infectious waste.

• Medical/infectious

  waste that is treated to specific standards can be disposed of

  as municipal solid waste, provided that no local rules prohibit

  it.

Use the guidance

and references below to accurately categorize your wastes.  For

additional help, see Contacts below.

Medical/Infectious

Waste Definition

Medical/infectious waste is means any waste generated in the diagnosis, treatment,

or immunization of human beings or animals. The definition of

medical/infectious waste does not include hazardous waste; household

waste; ash from incineration of medical/infectious waste, once

the incineration process has been completed; human corpses, remains,

and anatomical parts that are intended for interment or cremation;

or domestic sewage materials.  Examples of medical/infectious

waste include:

• Cultures and

  stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals, including:

  cultures from medical and pathological laboratories; cultures

  and stocks of infectious agents from research and industrial

  laboratories; wastes from the production of biologicals; discarded

  live and attenuated vaccines; and culture dishes and devices

  used to transfer, inoculate, and mix cultures.

• Human pathological

  waste, including tissues, organs, and body parts and body fluids

  that are removed during surgery or autopsy, or other medical

  procedures, and specimens of body fluids and their containers.

• Human blood and blood products including:

• Liquid waste human blood;

• Products of blood;

• Items saturated and/or dripping with human blood; or

• Items that

  were saturated and/or dripping with human blood that are now

  caked with dried human blood; including serum, plasma, and other

  blood components, and their containers, which were used or intended

  for use in either patient care, testing and laboratory analysis

  or the development of pharmaceuticals. Intravenous bags are also

  included in this category.

• Sharps that

  have been used in animal or human patient care or treatment or

  in medical, research or industrial laboratories.

• Animal waste

  including contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding

  of animals that were known to have been exposed to infectious

  agents during research (including research in veterinary hospitals),

  production of biologicals or testing of pharmaceuticals.

• Isolation

  wastes including biological waste and discarded materials contaminated

  with blood, excretions, exudates, or secretions from humans who

  are isolated to protect others from certain highly communicable

  diseases, or isolated animals known to be infected with highly

  communicable diseases.

• Unused sharps

  including the following unused, discarded sharps: hypodermic

  needles, suture needles, syringes, and scalpel blades.

Regulation

of Medical/Infectious Waste

Environmental

Regulations

Wyoming does

not have specific environmental regulations applicable to healthcare

facilities for medical/infectious wastes, except where healthcare

facilities operate an incinerator for processing medical/infectious

waste (see Wyoming Air Quality Standards

and Regulations Chapter 4, Section 5.  These rules are enforced

by the "Wyoming Department of

Environmental Quality": http://deq.state.wy.us/

OSHA

Regulations

In addition to

the state medical waste incinerator regulations there are some

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules that

apply to medical/infectious waste.  Wyoming is one of 24 states

operating an approved occupational safety and health program.  This

program is operated by the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration of the Department of Employment.  OSHA rules

(Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens Standards) impact

various aspects of medical/infectious waste, including management

of sharps, requirements for containers that hold or store medical/infectious

waste, labeling of medical/infectious waste bags/containers, and

employee training.  These requirements can be found in the HERC

section entitled OSHA Standards for Regulated

Waste.

Statutes,

Regulations and Guidelines

Solid Waste

Management Rules

“Solid Waste

Management Rules (Chapter 15, Solid Waste Rules and Regulations)": http://deq.state.wy.us/shwd/downloads/SWRules_pdf/1389.pdf

“Wyoming Air Quality Standards

and Regulations Chapter 4, Section 5": http://deq.state.wy.us/aqd/standards.asp

Contacts

Wyoming Department of Environmental

Quality Solid and Hazardous Waste Division

Wyoming Department of Employment,

Occupation Health and Safety Division

Wyoming Department of Health

More Information

None located.