Clinical and related industrial waste is pre-classified as reportable priority waste.
Learn about:
- what types of clinical and related industrial waste are reportable priority waste
- any specific requirements or guidance for management.
The Department of Health provides information on different types of clinical and related waste(opens in a new window).
Note: ‘contaminated with blood’ means any contamination with blood, not just free-flowing or expressible blood.
Sharps
Sharps include:
- syringes
- needles
- lancets
- scalpel blades.
Anything that can cut or penetrate the skin is classified as a sharp if contaminated by:
- blood
- body fluids
- cultures.
This includes items such as disposable glassware and dentists’ drill bits.
Exclusions
None.
Management considerations
Do not dispose of sharps in the normal clinical waste stream. Dispose of sharps in a sharps container.
Clinical specimens other than urine or faeces
This is clinical specimens collected for laboratory examination or testing. It can include:
- tissue
- blood
- other specimens not listed under 'Exclusions'.
Exclusions
- urine or faeces
- hair and nail clippings.
Specimens of urine or faeces taken for laboratory testing
This includes specimens taken for analysis to determine disease status.
Exclusions
This does not include specimens taken for routine bedside or ward testing.
Management considerations
After testing and appropriate disinfection in the laboratory, you can dispose of many specimens to the sewer.
Laboratory cultures
Laboratory cultures include:
- cultures or suspensions of microorganisms
- tissue cultures
- nutrient agars, gels and broths
- serums, vaccines, antigens and antitoxins
- contaminated material, such as culture dishes, glass plates and vials.
Exclusions
This does not include cultures prepared for human consumption in the food industry.
Human tissue
Human tissue includes:
- pathology specimens
- biopsy specimens
- tissue taken during surgery or autopsy
- extracted teeth contaminated with blood
- body organs
- limbs and recognisable body parts
- foetuses not requiring burial
- placentae.
Exclusions
- cadavers/bodies
- foetuses for burial
- placentae requested for home retention.
Management considerations
When managing and disposing of human tissue, you should consider:
- aesthetic factors and community expectations
- religious considerations and personal wishes, especially related to placentae and foetuses.
You can only treat human tissue by incineration at a licensed incinerator. Find one using our public register.
Human tissue wastes should be packaged and identified separately from other clinical waste types that do not need incineration.
If a waste stream is contaminated with human tissue waste or pharmaceuticals, all the waste must be incinerated.
You can dispose of extracted teeth with amalgam fillings to landfill after thoroughly washing them. The mercury in the amalgam should not be incinerated.
Patients can accept responsibility for human tissue to make their own arrangements. Medical facilities should:
- get written advice from the patient accepting responsibility to meet the disposal requirements
- advise the patient of the disposal requirements.
Tissue, carcasses or other waste from animals
This is waste from animals used for laboratory investigation or for medical or veterinary research. It includes:
- infected animal tissue
- animals used for chemical and drug testing
- animals used for microbiological testing
- animals used in other veterinary and medical research
- animal waste contaminated with infectious organisms or chemical residues
- materials contaminated with urine and faeces from an animal infected with an infectious organism.
Exclusions
This does not include animals used:
- in educational institutions for dissection purposes only
- for psychological testing.
Human blood or body fluids
This includes:
- whole blood
- blood components, such as serum and plasma
- any fluid visibly contaminated with blood.
Body fluids include:
- amniotic fluid
- cerebrospinal fluid
- synovial fluid
- pericardial fluid
- peritoneal fluid
- pleural fluid
- semen
- vaginal secretions.
Exclusions
- human urine or faeces
- materials or equipment contaminated with human blood or body fluids.
Materials or equipment containing human blood or body fluids
This includes:
- sanitary napkins from patient areas
- bandages and dressings soiled with blood and body fluids
- discarded equipment contaminated with blood or other body fluids.
Exclusions
- materials or equipment containing human urine or faeces
- sanitary napkins from non-patient areas or from commercial premises, if the area uses an appropriate disposal system.
Urine or faeces with visible blood
Urine or faeces is clinical waste where there's visible blood. This includes materials or equipment contaminated with or containing urine or faeces where there's visible blood.
Incontinence pads and disposable nappies are only considered clinical waste if there's visible blood.
Management considerations
Urine and faeces from patients undergoing therapy may contain drugs and their metabolic by-products. Disposal of these wastes to sewer is unavoidable. It's not prohibited or restricted.
Waste from patients with a communicable disease
This applies where the patient is known to have or suspected of having a communicable disease. Communicable means the disease could be transmitted either:
- from one person to another
- between animals and humans
- between animals.
Any type of waste from a patient who is known to have or suspected of having a communicable disease is reportable priority waste. This can include sputum, meconium and vomit.
Exclusions
None.
Management considerations
It's not possible to determine the extent and duration this waste remains infectious. It depends on:
- the pathogen responsible for the infection
- the state or type of the infection
- the state or type of the disease
- the treatment effect or specific treatment.
Related waste – pharmaceutical substances and cytotoxic drugs
These substances include:
- patients’ unused medications
- pharmaceuticals that are unwanted or out of date
- sharps, packages, containers and equipment contaminated by pharmaceutical substances and their residues
- pharmaceutical substances rejected by the manufacturer due to quality control considerations
- cytotoxic drugs.
Exclusions
- materials containing trace quantities of pharmaceuticals (other than cytotoxics), such as empty pill bottles
- saline, sugar and nutrient solutions and drips.
Management considerations
Waste from the use of pharmaceutical products or from cytotoxic substances is waste code R120 reportable priority waste.
Waste from the production of pharmaceuticals is waste code R140 reportable priority waste.
Cytotoxic wastes should be handled very carefully. Even very small quantities can be hazardous. Do not dispose of cytotoxic waste in reusable sharps containers.
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