Medical Waste — Definitions

Any waste stream that contains blood, body fluids, or other potentially infectious materials is considered an RMW, also known as “biomedical” or “infectious medical” waste.

Interchangeably known as biohazardous, biomedical waste or biowaste, this waste stream includes:

• Cultures of infectious diseases and/or agents
• Sharps (E.g., needles, scalpels, and lancets)
• Anything soaked in blood, like gloves, gauze, and gowns
• Human body tissues
• Animal body tissues
• Human body fluids
• Wastes from rooms of patients having communicable diseases
• Something containing environmentally-restricted molecules or organisms
• Multi-hazardous substances, so-called because they contain some combination of noxious elements wherein neutralizing one can make the other more dangerous (E.g. tissue samples preserved in formalin).

Sharps waste is a stream of regulated medical waste composed of used "sharps", aka any device or object used to puncture or lacerate the skin. Common items typically categorized as sharps include hypodermic needles, disposable scalpels and blades, lancets, broken capillary tubes, and culture slides. All used sharps must be disposed of in an approved sharps disposal container.

Infectious medical waste is waste generated in the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals which has been or is likely to have been contaminated by an organism capable of causing disease in healthy humans. While waste generators must follow CDC isolation precautions, most discarded biological waste products or materials that are potentially infectious infectious can be disposed of as regulated medical waste.

A medical waste generator is typically a person or business involved in the following activities:

• The diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals.
• Research pertaining to the activities specified above.
• The production and testing of biological agents.

Regulated Medical waste is classified within the packaging group PG II. Its correct shipping name is Regulated Medical Waste, n.o.s and it belongs in the Hazard Class 6, Division 6.2. A Division 6.2 infectious substance (which includes regulated medical waste) is a hazardous material that is subject to regulation under the Hazardous Materials Regulation (HMR). All employees involved in its transportation (including loading, unloading, handling and preparing or reviewing shipping papers) must be trained HazMat employees.

Biohazard remediation is the process of thorough cleaning, sanitization, and deodorizing a site where a fatal accident has occurred. It is a category of hazardous waste management that requires the handling of human blood, body fluids, and feces; rendering workers potentially exposed to staph, hepatitis, HIV, and other communicable diseases.