What is a Regulated Medical Waste?

Cultures and stocks of infectious agents such as tissue culture materials including human and primate cell lines, human blood and blood products, impure animal cell lines, preparations made from living organisms and their products, including vaccines, cultures, etc. intended for use in diagnosing, immunizing, or treating human beings or animals, or in research pertaining thereto.

"Infectious Agents" mean any organisms such as a virus or a bacteria that cause disease or an adverse health impact to humans. Those organisms found in Biosafety Levels 2 through 4 of the CDC's Manual for Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (May 1993) are included.

Culture media such as agar gel, nutrient broth, discarded media from cultures, and blood agar.

Clean up materials including absorbents, paper towels from culture/stock mixing.

Biologicals includes preparations made from living organisms and their products, such as serums, vaccines, antigens, antitoxins.

Culture dishes, flasks, or other devices used to transfer, inoculate, and mix culture dishes such as tissue culture plates, assay plates, test tubes, centrifuge tubes, cotton swabs, pipettes, pipette tips, stirring apparatus, flasks, vials, beakers, bottles, jars, spatulas, inoculation loops, wires, corks, stoppers, cell scrapers, cell lifters, paraffin sealing paper, foil, cotton, filters, mixing sticks, tubing, etc. that have been in contact with infectious materials.

Sharps means discarded unused sharps and sharps used in animal or human research. Examples include glassware such as pasteur pipettes, glass, glass culture dishes, blood vials, glass beakers, glass flasks, glass test tubes, slides, cover slips, etc. in contact with infectious materials. Plasticware including broken rigid plastic items, broken plastic culture dishes/flasks, plastic pipettes, etc. in contact with infectious materials. Syringes to include hypodermic needles and other materials capable of puncturing such as scalpel blades, suture needles, surgical needles, lancets, staples, instruments designed for cutting or puncturing: saws, tweezers, scissors, etc.

Animal waste means discarded materials including carcasses, body parts, fluids, blood, or bedding originating from animals known to be contaminated with infectious materials.

Please evaluate the biological materials that you are using to ensure that no RMW is being disposed of in the regular solid waste. The enclosed list from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation contains the CDC and NIH listing of infectious materials. Anything on the list must be handled and managed as a RMW.

Segregation Requirements

RMW must be segregated into the following three categories: sharps, fluids (greater than 20 cc), and other RMW.

Sharps will be collected for disposal in leakproof, rigid, labeled, red puncture resistant containers that are secured to preclude loss of contents. Small (1 quart) and large (2 gallon) sharps containers are available from the Environmental Health and Safety Office.

Other RMW (non-sharps) will be collected in bags which are impervious to moisture and have strength sufficient to resist ripping, tearing, or bursting under normal conditions of usage and handling. The bags shall be secured to preclude loss of contents and will be red in color.

RMW will be collected in each laboratory that generates it. Laboratories will not store more than one full sharps container and/or red bag at any one time. When full the sharps containers and/or RMW bags will be brought to the EHS Office for storage in the McGregory bunker prior to pick up by a licensed company for incineration. The sharps containers will be replaced with new empty containers at the time of transfer.

Non-infectious biological organisms and associated lab debris should be autoclaved prior to disposal in the regular trash. Use clear autoclavable bags. Red or orange biohazard bags cannot be placed in the regular solid waste.

Return to: Lab Waste Flowchart