Medical Waste Collection: How are Non-Sharps, Sharps and Liquids Collected?

Medical waste collection, segregation, transport, storage, treatment, and disposal (in other words medical waste management) includes numerous practices as its goal is to minimize the risk of exposure for those that handle such waste and general public.

There are three main categories of bio waste that require medical waste collection – solid (non-sharp) biohazardous waste, sharps and liquid biohazardous waste.

Solid, Non-Sharps Biohazardous Waste Collection

Solid medical waste includes any solid item used in hospitals or medical research facilities that have been contaminated with human or animal blood or bodily fluids. This includes, but is not limited to, the following items: gloves, culture flasks, pipette tips, well plates, serological pipettes, as well as any other lab consumable that may have come in contact with biological materials containing nucleic acids and any other materials that are potentially infectious.

Solid and non-sharps should be collected in a leak-proof container made of solid material. The container should be marked with the universal biohazard symbol, lined with an autoclave biohazard bag and have a lid.

When not in use, the container should be kept closed.

When it comes to bench-top bio waste containers, the same rules for medical waste collection apply here as well. Bags should never be filled completely full, but about ¾ of the way in order to be securely closed with a suitable sealing tape.

For serological pipettes, use a pippettekeeper box and a bag or a box lined with the biohazard bag to prevent puncturing.

Sharps Medical Waste Collection

Sharps include items used by health care personnel when they need to puncture the skin that have been in contact with blood or other biological materials.

This includes, but is not limited to: discarded needles and syringes, used scalpel and razor blades, glass slides, broken glass that has been contaminated with biological material, lancets, glass Pasteur pipettes and more.

These items must be immediately and carefully collected into a solid-wall, leak-proof container after their use. These containers, called sharps containers, should have a lid and be visibly marked with the biohazard symbol to warn the person who is about to handle it about its contents.

Be careful not to use cardboard boxes or similar for storing used sharps, as this is not an acceptable type of container for this purpose.

Liquid Biohazard Waste Collection

Liquid biohazardous waste includes bulk biological liquids and it should be stored in liquid “pour off” containers and vacuum flasks. These containers must be thoroughly disinfected before the use. This is done to prevent the pathogens to grow while the container is waiting for medical waste treatment or disposal.

All vessels used for liquid bio waste must be clearly labeled with the name of the disinfectant used and the biohazard symbol.

Also, make sure to use non-breakable containers and to store them in a secondary, leak-proof and non-breakable container.

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