Those who are involved in the medical industry would know how important an issue medical waste is. Estimates show that medical waste is continuously increasing with each passing year in the US. On an average, a hospital bed in the US is generating between 13 to 23 pounds of medical waste every day. Now, you can imagine the number of medical waste being produced all over the states.

Since medical waste is a huge concern in the US, there are many federal and state laws pertaining to its management. For instance, red trash bags are used to keep medical or biohazardous waste in any medical facility or office. Although OSHA defines biohazardous waste as sharp items such as needles, glass, scalpel blades; pathological waste and microbiological waste; liquid or semi-liquid blood, etc., it is important for medical facilities to know that not every biohazardous medical waste needs to be contained in red trash bags.

In this blog, we will tell you about waste that should not be disposed in the red trash bags. Let’s get started.

Pharmaceuticals

You should never throw pharmaceuticals in red trash bags even though they are termed as biohazardous. There are drug take-back programs organized by several drug companies that are perfect for getting rid of expired or thrown away medicines. One of the best ways of disposing pharmaceuticals is through incineration. To contain pharmaceuticals, we will advise you to use a plastic bag to store them. Once inside the plastic bag, put them inside a sealable container that is fully leak-proof.

Sharp Waste

Since sharp waste can easily puncture red trash bags, it is recommended that you dispose of them using containers that are specially designed for containing sharp medical waste. Red bags are not suitable for sharp waste as sharp waste needs to be isolated properly, which only specialized containers can do through their small sealable openings.

Universal Waste

By universal waste, we mean normal garbage waste such as paper, food waste, bottles, batteries, etc. Such waste should also not be disposed in red bags as they are municipal waste and can be recycled. Some of this waste can also be sharp.

Bulk Liquids

If you start disposing liquids in great quantities in red bags, they will eventually start leaking and cause contamination. Reg bags are not made to contain liquids in huge quantities and you should never overfill them with any liquids. You can of course add liquids in small amounts stored in proper containers such as blood tubes or used intravenous sets.

Apart from these, you should also not dispose waste from chemotherapy, x-ray, and radioactive sources in red bags in a medical facility. The best thing for a medical facility or office is to use regulated medical waste services in NJ. Maverick Medical Waste Services can provide any medical facility routine collection of medical waste services. We can also dispose medical waste as and when you need it through our service-on demand. If interested, feel free to contact us to inquire more about our services.