Utah Medical Waste Disposal

Skiers love Utah for its dry, powdery snow and the sheer amount of it: 500 inches fall annually in the mountains near Salt Lake City. The state capitalizes on this with its 14 alpine ski resorts. The state’s name comes from the Native American Ute tribe, and means “people of the mountains.” Utah boasts seven national monuments, six national forests, and five national parks, not to mention two national recreation areas: Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon. The state also has 11,000 miles of fishing streams and 147,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs. With so much natural beauty to protect, you need a trusted name in medical waste management. Call on Cyntox for infectious waste disposal.

The State of Utah Definition of Medical Waste:

An infectious waste is defined by statute as a “solid waste that contains or may reasonably be expected to contain pathogens of sufficient virulence and quantity that exposure to the waste by a susceptible host could result in an infectious disease.”  This waste includes such materials as used sharps, body fluids or materials mixed with body fluids, bandages, or other materials that have come in contact with body fluids.

The state of Utah uses the term “Infectious Waste” which is waste that is capable of producing an infectious disease.  This definition requires a consideration of the factors necessary for introduction of disease, which includes doses, host susceptibility, presence of a pathogen, virulence of a pathogen, and the most commonly absent factor, a portal of entry.  Therefore, for waste to be infectious, it must contain pathogens with sufficient virulence and quantity so that exposure to the waste by a susceptible host could result in an infectious disease.  Because there are no tests that allow infectious waste to be objectively identified, the waste is considered to be infectious when it is suspected to contain or has the potential to contain pathogens in sufficient numbers to cause disease.