What is medical waste?
We define medical waste as any potentially infectious material produced in healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and physical offices.
How do they dispose of medical waste?
Common types of medical waste include:
Anatomical/pathological waste
Bandages, gloves and other supplies
Microbial culture and storage
sharps
OPIM
Blood products
Reasons for prioritizing proper disposal of medical waste
Legal – Compliance with OSHA guidelines on how to manage and dispose of medical waste can help reduce legal liability.
Health – Proper collection and disposal of waste helps to minimize the potential risk of infection from contaminated materials.
Environment – The use of appropriate disposal methods (e.g. incineration) helps prevent hazardous medical waste from entering landfills and oceans.
Number of medical waste
On average, hospital beds produce 33 pounds of waste per day, which means the United States generates 5.9 million tons of waste each year.
Collection and separation of medical waste
In addition, there are a range of types of medical waste, such as sharps and medicines. They also need to be collected separately in different containers due to their different handling and disposal methods.

Sharps Waste Disposal
Sharp objects need to be handled in hard plastic containers. Sharps are one of the most common types of medical waste, as they are used in many places for a variety of reasons.
Therefore, they need to be separated and placed in separate containers in the following facilities:
The hospital
Emergency care facility
Rehabilitation facilities
residential
The nursing home
Doctor’s office
The pharmacy
Red Bag Waste Disposal
Red bag treatment is specifically used for biohazard waste (also known as potentially infectious waste).
Examples of clinical waste used for red bags include:
Discarded surgical tools and equipment
Bandages, gauze, gloves and robes
Articles containing dried blood and fluid
Bloody objects
Cytotoxic waste
Pathological waste
Abandoned the vaccine
Yellow Container Disposal
Yellow containers Medical waste Yellow waste containers are used for trace chemotherapy waste that is considered “RCRA empty” according to EPA standards.
“RCRA empty” means that the material is empty and the residual volume is less than 3% of its original volume. Therefore, this usually includes:
Empty ampoules and vials
Empty syringes and needles
Unfilled IV bags and iv tubes
Dress, gloves and apron
Used wipes and packaging
Black Container Disposal
Yellow is used for trace chemical waste and black containers are used for chemotherapy waste that is not “RCRA empty”.
Also known as “bulk” waste, common types of RCRA hazardous waste include:
Half/part of the drug dose
Partially used vials, bags and IV lines
P column material and container
Pathological chemical waste
PPE and cleaning materials
Blue Container Disposal
Finally, blue containers are used to collect pharmaceutical waste that RCRA defines as hazardous.
Types of hazardous pharmaceutical waste are defined by the RCRA’s P and U lists and include drugs such as:
warfarin
nicotine
cyclophosphamide
Lin Dan
Bulk powder
Expired/unused pills and injections

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