Biohazardous waste includes all laboratory waste that may contain any biohazardous material or were in contact with said material. Additionally, any blood or components of blood or body fluids are to be disposed of as biohazardous waste, as are human or non-human primate cell lines. All biohazardous waste must be disposed of in red bags marked with the biohazard symbol; these bags must be secondarily contained in a puncture resistant outer container and covered with a tight fitting lid. Biohazard stickers must be present on all four sides of the container and the top of the lid.
In accordance with the California Medical Waste Management Act, Health and Safety Code, Chapter 6.1, medical waste is defined as including, but not limited to the following:
- Human or animal specimens or cultures from medical and pathological laboratories.
- Cultures and stocks of infectious agents from research and industrial laboratories.
- Wastes from the production of bacteria, viruses, or the use of spores, discarded live and attenuated vaccines, and culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate, and mix cultures.
Additionally, medical waste can include:
- Waste containing any biological specimens sent to the laboratory for analysis.
- Human specimens or tissues removed at surgery or autopsy, which are suspected by the attending physician and surgeon or dentist of being contaminated with infectious agents known to be contagious to humans.
- Animal parts, tissues, fluids or carcasses suspected by the attending veterinarian of being contaminated with infectious agents contagious to humans.
- Waste, which at the point of transport from the generator’s site, at the point of disposal, or thereafter, contains recognizable blood, fluid blood products, containers or equipment containing blood that is fluid, or blood from animals known to be infected with diseases which are communicable to humans.
- Waste containing discarded materials contaminated with excretion, exudate or secretions from humans who are required to be isolated by the infection control staff, the attending physician and surgeon, the attending veterinarian or local health officer to protect others from highly communicable disease, or isolated animals known to be infected with disease which are highly communicable to humans.
Please note, however, that the California Medical Waste Management Act has as exceptions to the definition of medical waste:
- Waste generated in food processing or biotechnology that does not contain an infectious agent (defined as BL-2 or above).
- Waste generated in biotechnology that does not contain human blood or blood products or animal blood or blood products suspected of being contaminated with infectious agents known to be communicable to humans
- Urine, feces, saliva, sputum, nasal secretions, sweat, tears or vomitus, unless it contains fluid blood.
These exemptions would include tissue culture materials that are not known or suspected of being infected. The biotechnology exemption permits the above items to be disposed of as non-red bag (nonbiohazardous) waste. Note that these materials should be inactivated with an appropriate disinfectant to avoid contamination elsewhere in the laboratory.
An overview of Medical Waste Disposal for Stanford University is on the following chart (Figure 1); this chart is available in hard copy from EH&S:
Figure 1. Biohazardous and medical waste guidelines.
