Any materials that may contain pathogens or other biohazards must be decontaminated before they can be disposed in the general waste stream. All biohazardous materials should be collected in bags or containers affixed with a biohazard symbol. After decontamination, biohazard symbols must be defaced and/or covered prior to disposal in the general waste stream.
Biohazardous Waste Requiring Decontamination
Infectious Waste
Infectious waste is defined by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (PDF) and includes the following:
- Sharps, such as hypodermic needles, syringes with needles attached, scalpel blades, lancets, contaminated broken glass, contaminated broken rigid plastic, and contaminated laboratory slides
- Bulk blood and body fluids: drippable or pourable quantities or saturated items
- Human tissue: hard or soft tissue from humans, including teeth, but not including hair or nails
- Microbiological laboratory waste: cultures derived from clinical specimens or laboratory equipment that has come into contact with clinical specimen cultures
- Tissue, bulk blood, or body fluids from an animal which is carrying a zoonotic infectious agent
Other Biohazardous Waste
UWM considers additional materials to be biohazardous waste based on regulations and guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety & Health Administration, and National Institutes of Health. This includes any materials that contain:
- Human pathogens
- Exotic or virulent plant & animal pathogens
- Recombinant (transgenic) organisms
- Recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids that are capable of penetrating a cell membrane
Biohazardous Waste Procedures
All labs generating biohazardous waste must have an approved means of decontamination and disposal documented in their laboratory’s Biosafety Protocol. Contact us to discuss further options and receive guidance.
The most common method for decontaminating solid Non-Sharps biohazardous waste is via autoclaving. Review the resources below for more information on proper biohazardous waste disposal and autoclaving procedures. Note that biohazard symbols must be defaced or covered before properly decontaminated waste can enter the general waste stream.