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Management of Infectious Waste from Hospitals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

William A. Rutala  and
Felix A. Sarubbi Jr.
William A. Rutala*
Affiliation:
Department of Hospital Epidemiology, North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Felix A. Sarubbi Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Hospital Epidemiology, North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
*
Division of Infectious Diseases, 547 Burnett-Womack Clinical Sciences Bldg. 229H, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 2754
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Abstract

In October 1980, 80% (120/150) of North Carolina (NC) hospitals responded to a comprehensive solid waste questionnaire intended to identify their solid waste disposal practices. NC hospitals generated an average of 13 lb. of solid waste/patient/day and infectious waste comprised 5% to 11% of the total hospital waste. Most hospitals (>66%) considered blood, isolation, laboratory (including microbiology), pathology, and autopsy waste as infectious, while other sources of solid waste were generally considered non-infectious. The infectious wastes were normally incinerated or steam sterilized before discarding. Nearly all hospitals (95%) used a Class A landfill to dispose of the non-infectious waste. Two-thirds of the NC hospitals are discarding blood, microbiological, pathological, and isolation waste in accordance with the CDC recommendations, while the compliance rates for the JCAH and EPA recommendations for these wastes were 94% and 24%, respectively. If the EPA modified its recommendations to include incineration of microbiological waste, which is practiced by 50 responding NC hospitals, the compliance rate would be 95.5% for these wastes and 61.7% overall.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , August 1983 , pp. 198 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1983

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