Disposal of Medical Waste
Included In This Lesson
Outline
Overview
- Disposal of Waste
- General medical waste
- Infectious medical waste
- Hazardous medical waste
- Radioactive medical waste
Nursing Points
General
- General medical waste
- Not considered hazardous
- Paper, plastic and office waste
- Can be disposed of regularly
- Infectious medical waste
- Used sharps
- Includes bodily fluids, swabs, used bandages
- Each state and facility have different rules
- Hazardous medical waste
- Dangerous waste, but not infectious
- Includes unused sharps
- Includes chemo medications, solvents
- Includes unused medication
- Radioactive waste
- Medications and products involved in radiation
- Require special containers
- Authorized and certified personnel to handle
Nursing Concepts
- Safety
Patient Education
- Educate patients on proper disposal of unused or expired medication at home.
Transcript
In this lesson, we’ll look at how to properly dispose of waste.
I’m sorry guys, but this lesson isn’t going to be bells and whistles. In fact, it seems pretty boring when I say that we are going to talk about how you throw stuff away. But there’s a reason behind it. The last thing you want to do is to accidentally get stuck with a needle because either you or someone else didn’t take to heart waste disposal. It’s really about being safe and throwing stuff away where it needs to go so no one gets hurt.
When we look at waste, we’ll start with the least hazardous. We call this general medical waste. So things like paper and plastic can be thrown away regularly, like in a trash can or appropriate receptacle. And one other thing – don’t throw your trash away in the sharps container. It just makes it expensive trash because those containers cost a lot of money to process, and it keeps your from putting in needles and other sharps when you need to. Don’t fill them up with junk.
The next type of waste we’ll look at is called infectious medical waste. It’s probably the most common type of waste you’ll see. These are things like used sharps, bodily fluids, swabs, used and soiled bandages. Facilities have different rules, including state rules, that say how to handle infectious waste. The basic rule is, if it has bodily fluids on it, consider it infectious and follow those rules for disposing it. Typically they can go into a sharps container, or there will be another biohazard container available for you to use.
Key point here too – sharps go in the sharps container. Why? Because you don’t want to get stabbed by some needle that’s got some crazy virus or bacteria on it and then you get sick and you’re out of work because you’re sick. And all of the hard work you put in nursing school goes right down the toilet. So, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Next, we’ll take a look at hazardous medical waste.
Hazardous medical waste is dangerous waste, but not infectious. This includes things like unused sharps, chemotherapy agents and solvents. The other thing that’s included here is any unused medication. So wastes for like an unused dose of medication. But again, check with your state and facility regarding their policy for unused drugs.
Again, sharps go in the sharps container, which is either a red or yellow bin. Throw your sharps away in the sharps container!
Radioactive waste is not really common to experience, unless you’re in somewhere like an oncology unit, or a radiation area. However, you might see encounter this kind of waste with a patient who had an implant that becomes dislodged. Some patients treat diseases like cancer with radioactive implants, and they can rarely become dislodged (check out the lesson on radiation safety for a few more tips).
There will most likely be special containers for disposing of the implant and those containers are typically handled by personnel certified and authorized to dispose of it. When it doubt, find out where you need to place radioactive waste before touching it, and put on the right equipment.
Waste disposal is about safety, which is what we focused on today.
Ok, let’s recap:
Waste has a place! Don’t throw blood filled syringes in the trash – put them where they need to go.
Protect yourself by wearing the right PPE when you need to, like when you’re messing with chemo or irradiated implants.
SHARPS GO IN SHARPS! I’ll say it again for those in the back! Put the sharps in the sharps container!
When you don’t know where waste goes, ask. Your unit or facility might have a specific policy.
That’s all for this lesson on proper disposal of waste. Make sure you check out all the resources attached to this lesson. Now, go out and be your best selves today. And, as always, happy nursing!!
Rina’s NCLEX Study Plan 2026
Concepts Covered:
- Endocrine System
- Studying
- Urinary System
- Tissues and Glands
- Nervous System
- Circulatory System
- Medication Administration
- Hematologic System
- Skeletal System
- Digestive System
- Respiratory System
- Emergency Care of the Cardiac Patient
- Reproductive System
- Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders
- Basics of Human Biology
- Muscular System
- Sensory System
- Communication
- Legal and Ethical Issues
- Basics of NCLEX
- Prenatal Concepts
- Prioritization
- Fundamentals of Emergency Nursing
- Documentation and Communication
- Delegation
- Community Health Overview
- Factors Influencing Community Health
- Concepts of Mental Health
- Test Taking Strategies
- Note Taking
- Substance Abuse Disorders
- Behavior
- Concepts of Population Health
- Concepts of Pharmacology
- Health & Stress
- Labor and Delivery
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Microbiology
- Depressive Disorders
- Postpartum Care
- Emergency Care of the Trauma Patient
- Emotions and Motivation
- Growth & Development
- Intelligence and Language
- Psychological Disorders
- State of Consciousness
- Respiratory Disorders
- EENT Disorders
- Infectious Disease Disorders
- Integumentary Disorders
- Neurologic and Cognitive Disorders
- Hematologic Disorders
- Cardiovascular Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Renal and Urinary Disorders
- Oncologic Disorders
- Anxiety Disorders
- Cognitive Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Psychotic Disorders
- Trauma-Stress Disorders
- Bipolar Disorders
- Developmental Considerations
- Psychological Emergencies
- Somatoform Disorders
- Perioperative Nursing Roles
- Preoperative Nursing
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Brain
- Lower GI Disorders
- Peripheral Nervous System Disorders
- Cardiac Disorders
- Integumentary Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Noninfectious Respiratory Disorder
- Postoperative Nursing
- Respiratory Emergencies
- Intraoperative Nursing
- Disorders of Pancreas
- Urinary Disorders
- Neurological Emergencies
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Spinal Cord
- Renal Disorders
- Infectious Respiratory Disorder
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- EENT Disorders
- Shock
- Cardiovascular
- Shock
- Disorders of the Posterior Pituitary Gland
- Endocrine
- Disorders of the Thyroid & Parathyroid Glands
- Gastrointestinal
- Upper GI Disorders
- Liver & Gallbladder Disorders
- Neurological
- Respiratory
- Hematologic Disorders
- Acute & Chronic Renal Disorders
- Disorders of the Adrenal Gland
- Immunological Disorders
- Oncology Disorders
- Female Reproductive Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Trauma
- Vascular Disorders
- Male Reproductive Disorders
- Newborn Complications
- Disorders of Thermoregulation
- Neurological Trauma
- Integumentary Important Points
- Multisystem
- Emergency Care of the Neurological Patient
- Emergency Care of the Respiratory Patient
- Prefixes
- Suffixes
- Fetal Development
- Terminology
- Proteins
- Statistics
- Med Term Basic
- Med Term Whole
- Basics of Mathematics
- Basics of Sociology
- Pregnancy Risks
- Labor Complications
- Newborn Care
- Postpartum Complications
- Understanding Society
- Adult
- Dosage Calculations
- Adulthood Growth and Development
- Learning Pharmacology