Types of Biomedical Waste

Types of Biomedical Waste

Handling of biomedical waste is increasingly associated with the risk of laboratory-acquired infections. Most of these infec-tions include those caused by hepatitis B virus, Bacillus anthracis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Francisella tularensis, Shigellaspecies,and Brucella species. Biomedical wastes are of the following types:

Human anatomical waste: This consists of human tissues,organs, and body parts, but does not include teeth, hair, and nails.

Animal waste: This consists of all animal tissues, organs, bodyparts, carcasses, bedding, fluid, blood and blood products, items saturated or dripping with blood, body fluids contami-nated with blood, and body fluids removed for diagnosis or removed during surgery, treatment, or autopsy, unless a trained person has certified that the waste does not contain the viruses and agents listed in Risk Group 4. This excludes teeth, hair, nails, hooves, and feathers.

Microbiology laboratory waste: This consists of labora-tory cultures, stocks or specimens of microorganisms, live or attenuated vaccines, and human or animal cell cultures used in research and laboratory material that have come into contact with any of these.

Human blood and body fluid waste: This consists of bloodand blood products, items saturated or dripping with blood, human body fluids contaminated with blood, and body fluids removed for diagnosis during surgery, treatment, or autopsy. This does not include urine or feces.

Waste sharps: Waste sharps are clinical and laboratorymaterials consisting of needles, syringes, blades, or laboratory glass capable of causing punctures or cuts.

Cytotoxic waste: The term is commonly used to refer topharmaceuticals used in treating cancer, e.g., antineoplastics or chemotherapy agents.

The categories of biomedical waste as defined by the Pollution Control Board are listed in Table 78-1.