Disposal of Medical Waste: Types of Medical Waste
An important part of the disposal of medical waste includes segregation and classification of that waste at the point of generation. This ensures safe storage, transportation, and finally removal of medical waste. Classification and disposal also reduces the medical waste management costs.
For the purposes of the disposal of medical waste, the Medical Waste Tracking Act 1988 divides clinical waste into the following four categories:
- General
- Infectious
- Hazardous
- Radioactive
General Waste
General waste doesn’t really fall into the category of medical waste by any other criteria except by being generated in a medical facility. Other than that, there is almost no difference between office waste, household waste and general waste from hospitals.
This waste usually includes materials that do not belong in any of the three other categories listed here, such as plastic and paper and makes up about 85 percent of waste produced in health care facilities.
Infectious Waste
Infectious waste is any waste that can potentially cause an infection to a human being. This includes items such as used surgical gloves, blood-soaked towels and bandages, swabs, human and animal tissue (including body parts) and so on.
Some infectious wastes may require specific treatment methods. These are labeled as pathological waste. This waste is either confirmed or is suspected to contain dangerous pathogens.
Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste is such waste that won’t infect humans, but can affect them in some other way, such as cut them. A perfect example of this waste is medical sharps, used in hospitals to puncture and lacerate the skin of the patient. This includes discarded scalpel blades and lancets, used needles and syringes, and different glassware used in medical facilities.
In addition to sharps, hazardous waste also includes chemicals and sometimes chemotherapy and other drugs.
Also, depending on its level of exposure to human or animal tissue, hazardous waste may also be infectious. In this case, it ought to first be treated as such using an autoclave or some other method.
Radioactive Waste
Radioactive waste is a product of cancer therapies, nuclear medicine treatment and certain medical equipment that uses radioactive isotopes. All other waste, including infectious and hazardous that has been contaminated with radioactive materials is treated as radioactive.
The World Health Organization Alternative Classification for Disposal of Medical Waste
The World Health Organization (WHO) offers an alternative classification of medical waste to the one from above. According to WHO, all medical waste can be classified in one of the following six categories:
- Sharps waste
- Pathological waste
- Infectious waste
- Pharmaceuticals
- Radioactive waste
- Other waste
Most of the medical waste produced by health care facilities in the United States is sharps, followed by body fluids and blood.
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