Hospitals generate a diverse mix of waste every day, from innocuous paper scraps to highly infectious materials, which is why proper handling is non-negotiable. After all, mismanaging medical waste can lead to disease outbreaks and environmental contamination, as well as hefty fines.
This guide walks you through the basics of hospital waste management, including understanding the different types of hospital waste as well as actionable best practices and compliance tips. Each area has its own local regulations too, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the requirements in your region.
What is hospital waste management?
Waste management in a hospital, also known as medical waste management, includes health care waste that can be described as infectious, chemical, expired pharmaceutical and radioactive and sharp objects. An efficient hospital waste management is of high importance for hospitals, as medical waste can be pathogenic and hazardous to the environment. Failure to comply with regulations can have serious consequences, such as health hazards, fines or damage to the reputation of the health care institution.
The use of checklists in hospital waste management helps to complete all related tasks correctly, safely and reliably. In addition, the data obtained can be used to track, review and ideally improve processes. Checklists in waste disposal in hospitals support the work of the employees and provide safety.
Types of hospital waste
Hospital waste can be surprisingly diverse, and each type needs its own specific handling to avoid health risks and environmental damage. It’s critical to separate these so you can properly dispose of, transport, and destroy each type.
Coding helps to avoid major health problems caused by mislabelled medical waste. Here’s a breakdown of the main types of hospital waste. Here’s an example of a coding scheme for medical waste:
A-waste: House-like commercial waste
This is for non-hazardous, everyday waste that doesn’t pose a risk to health or the environment. A-waste typically doesn’t require special handling beyond making sure it’s disposed of properly in standard residual waste containers.
Examples:
- Paper, packaging materials, or food waste from hospital kitchens and cafeterias
- Non-contaminated plastic, like wrappers from sterile medical supplies
- Broken furniture, office supplies, or general maintenance debris
B-waste: Waste containing blood, secretions or excrements
This category is for waste with biological materials (e.g., blood, bodily fluids, or excrements) that carry potential infection risks, but they’re not confirmed to have infectious pathogens. They still require careful handling to prevent contamination, but they generally come from non-infectious patients or routine medical activities.
Examples:
- Gauze or bandages soaked in blood
- Suction canisters containing bodily fluids
- Diapers or bedpans used by patients
Staff handling B-waste should wear gloves, masks, and aprons to avoid direct contact and use designated containers like yellow bags or bins that are leak-proof. It’s often sterilized or incinerated to remove any residual risk of contamination
C-waste: Infectious waste
C-waste is high-risk waste confirmed or strongly suspected to be contaminated with pathogens that can transmit infectious diseases. This category includes waste from patients with communicable illnesses or materials directly exposed to pathogens in laboratories or isolation wards. Handling C-waste demands stringent protective measures and specialized disposal protocols to prevent the spread of diseases.
Examples:
- Used syringes, scalpels, or other sharps contaminated with blood or fluids from infectious patients
- Contaminated dressings, swabs, or surgical gloves
- Lab cultures or test samples with pathogens
C-waste is typically autoclaved (sterilized with high-pressure steam) or incinerated at high temperatures to completely eliminate infectious agents. They should be placed in puncture-resistant, leak-proof, and sealed biohazard containers.
D-waste: Waste requiring monitoring (e.g. chemicals)
D-waste is hazardous waste that includes chemicals, toxic substances, or other materials that pose an environmental risk. These harm people as well as wreak havoc on the environment if not disposed of properly. For this reason, strict monitoring and secure storage are essential.
Examples:
- Chemicals used in cleaning, sterilization, or laboratory work, such as formaldehyde
- Cytotoxic drugs from chemotherapy treatments
- Items with mercury, like broken thermometers or fluorescent bulbs
D-waste should be stored in rooms or areas that are sealed off from public sewerage systems to prevent leaks. Usually licensed facilities must handle them, and they’re disposed of based on hazardous waste regulations. Proper labeling and tracking are mandatory to ensure compliance and to avoid accidental mixing with other types of waste.
E-waste: Ethical waste, such as body parts or tissue residues
This type of waste requires dignified handling. It’s not just about the logistics–E-waste also carries emotional and ethical significance.
Examples:
- Surgically removed body parts
- Organs or tissues extracted during surgery
- Placental waste and umbilical cords from childbirth
E-waste is either treated with the same strict protocols as C-waste (if for smaller quantities) or sent to specialized incineration plants.
Good practices for waste management in hospitals
Medical waste can be hazardous, toxic and even lethal. If not properly managed by the hospital, they pose a serious risk to people and the environment. This includes, for example, the transmission of diseases, environmental pollution and poisoning.
Follow these three practices to make hospital waste disposal safe and sustainable:
1. Comply with national regulations
Each state or country has different regulations when it comes to medical waste. These regulations should be known, and relevant updates followed to ensure that medical facilities can comply with them. Training, courses and other resources help staff to implement proper waste management in the hospital.
2. Segregate waste at the source
For proper waste management, separating waste as soon as it’s generated. Use a color-coded system like the example above to categorize waste. Hospitals must have clearly labeled, color-coded bins or bags at every waste collection point, making it intuitive for staff to dispose of waste correctly.
3. Process monitoring to find improvement opportunities
The success of a hospital waste management system can be measured with a monitoring tool that you can easily integrate into the workflow. There should be regular inspections of all waste management processes. This includes separation and collection up to and including storage, transport and disposal itself.
Digital hospital waste management checklists are a suitable monitoring tool that you can use easily and efficiently. Employees who use them can do more things in less time.
You can easily implement and customize this hospital waste management checklist from Lumiform. The use of digital checklists in hospital waste management also help to ensure that daily, weekly and monthly tasks are completed on time.
Advantages of a medical waste management tool
With digital hospital waste management checklists, you can easily perform regular checks via tablet or smartphone – online or offline. With this software and app, you create checklists for monitoring medical waste and then evaluate the collected data. For example, you can directly identify disposal problems and resolve incidents up to four times faster.
Use the advantages of Lumiform’s app and software ever day for your healthcare institution:
- The flexible AI form builder makes it possible to create new individual checklists for hospital waste management at any time and to adapt them again and again.
- The Lumiform app ensures that the schedule is kept. All employees receive notifications about the procedure and due dates. Managers automatically receive notifications when assignments are overdue and problems have occurred.
- Keep an eye on your schedule and use the information to identify opportunities to increase the efficiency of the hospital waste management in your organization.
- With the data you collect from your waste management inspections you can streamline the performance of your hospital waste management processes. This helps you to quickly identify causes and problems so you can fix them as quickly as possible.
- Connect Lumiform’s software to your enterprise software systems. Start immediately with your first checklist, by selecting one of our ready-to-use templates from our template library.
Try Lumiform for free and simplify your hospital waste management, from waste segregation to compliance tracking!