The importance of bio hazardous waste disposal can never be overstated, because these hazardous waste materials have the potential to cause considerable threat to public health and environment.

What is Bio Hazardous Waste?

The term bio hazardous waste material refers to biological agents and substances present in or arising from the work environment that may pose a health hazard to the well being of the worker or to the community. By another definition, bio hazardous waste is any waste containing infectious materials like blood. Items of special concern are sharp wastes such as needles and blades that can cause injury to medical workers during handling.

Bio hazardous wastes are categorized into the following six different types.

• Human body fluids

• Human blood products

• Pathological wastes

• Microbiological wastes

• Animal waste

• Sharp waste

Sources that generate hazardous waste, such as health care providers, laboratories and hospitals have a responsibility to correctly treat and dispose of these wastes either by their own resources or by taking the assistance of medical waste disposal services. Of importance specially is that the waste material should be properly packed and labeled to prevent exposure that may cause injury and/ or health hazard.

Waste minimization, disinfecting and disposing of wastes within the laboratory premises assumes a lot of importance. For instance, there should never be a mix up of medical waste with the normal trash. This practice significantly adds to the costs of not only bio hazardous waste disposal but also of waste management as a whole. Laboratory personnel must understand that the following items do not fall under the category of biological waste.

• Gloves that handle containers of blood

• Paper towels on which blood is not spilled

• Any material that has not come in direct contact with blood

Labs must disinfect and dispose of waste in the right way. Liquids and waste that contain blood must be disinfected and then flushed. However, labs must take care to see that solutions containing large amount of blood must not be disinfected to prevent clot formation in pipes. If the quantity is large, it is prudent to take the services of a bio hazardous waste disposal company. Small amounts may however be disinfected in the labs by adding a proper disinfectant, by making sure there are no bubbles in the solution , letting the solution stand for at least 30 minutes and then pouring it down the drain.

What is the Need for a Medical Waste Disposal Company?

The job of preparing bio hazardous waste disposal (or autoclaving) that constitutes proper labeling, packaging and transportation can be time consuming and hard work. For any source such as a hospital or a laboratory that generates wastes on a regular basis, disposal can also be an expensive job. A waste-disposal company best does such work efficiently and in a cost effective way. In addition, it must be noted that improper disposal can attract civil and criminal liability because of lack of responsibility to protect the health of people and the environment. Secure bio hazardous waste disposal is therefore an unavoidable necessity.