1
Biomedical Waste
Biomedical Waste
Protecting the Environment
Marlene Purden
Safety and Regulatory Compliance
Biomedical Waste
2
Healthcare employees are exposed to hazardous material every day. Blood,
fungal culture, and disinfectants are just a few items that these employees are exposed to
and they have the challenge to dispose of them properly. They also face the challenging
task of informing clients how to dispose of their unused medications properly in order to
protect the environment and people who come in contact with it. Correct disposal of
biomedical waste is important aspect of keeping the environment safe and free of
hazardous material.
One aspect of biomedical waste that can affect the environment is chemical waste.
Chemical waste includes drug residue, disinfectants, and antiseptics. In the veterinary
field, some clients may have drugs that are need of disposal. Many of these clients are
unaware of the proper disposal for these said drugs. Some may even flush them down the
toilet in order to get rid of a drug they no longer need. This can potentially cause drug
residue to enter the waterways, polluting our environment. The veterinary team needs to
educate clients that this is not an acceptable way to dispose of drugs. There are programs
at certain pharmacies that allow the clients to take the drugs to the pharmacy and that
pharmacy will properly dispose of it (U.S. Food, 2015). The clients can also return the
drugs to the veterinary clinic and allow the staff to properly dispose of the drugs.
Disinfectants can also impact the environment. In large quantities, disinfectants can be
corrosive (Health impact, n.d.). If the veterinary team allows for large quantities of
disinfectants to go down a drain, it then is in the sewage system potentially polluting the
environment.
Another aspect of biomedical waste that can impact the environment is infectious
waste. Infectious waste includes fungal cultures and disposal of blood products. In the
Biomedical Waste
3
veterinary profession, cultures are used to grow item to help with diagnosing a patient.
For example, a ringworm diagnosis includes using a culture to grow ringworm. These
cultures can also grow other items on them that can be potentially hazardous to an
individual or environment if not properly disposed. Urine cultures are also now available
for veterinary clinic (Uri-cult). These urine cultures are actually growing potentially
harmful bacteria. If not disposed of properly, then those harmful pathogens are
introduced to the environment. To dispose of this culture, they should be placed in a
biohazard bag. These biohazard bags are red in color and must have a biohazard label on
them (Kappil, 2015).
Blood borne pathogens are also potentially harmful to the environment if not
disposed of properly. Any material that is covered in blood or blood like material needs
to be disposed properly. If just thrown into the garbage and taken to a landfill, the
environment and any individual handling the garbage is exposed to these harmful
pathogens. In order to dispose of blood material properly, all material covered in blood,
must be place in a biohazard bag that is labeled with a biohazard sign. Once this
container is full, the bag is then tied with a bag tie and sent to a facility that will
incinerate the medical waste (Kappil, 2015). This is to help reduce the exposure of the
biomedical waste to the environment.
There are many aspect of the veterinary field that produced biomedical waste. It
is a duty of the profession to ensure that each individual is safe and the environment is
kept clean by disposing of the waste properly. This is accomplished by following
standards in place for biomedical waste and properly educating client of disposal of
unused drugs.
4
Biomedical Waste
References
Health impacts of health-care waste. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2015, from
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/medicalwaste/020to030.pdf
Kappil, M., & Cherian, T. (2015). OSHA manual for veterinary healthcare
facilities. United States: OSHA.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2015, September 25). Retrieved October 18,
2015.