Wyoming Medical Waste Disposal
Wyoming’s nickname is the “Equality State” and one reason why may be that the state was the first to give women the right to vote. Wyoming is also known as the home of Yellowstone National Park, the first official national park, and Old Faithful, one of the park’s many geysers. Yellowstone is approximately 3,500 square miles of beautiful wilderness recreation area. Wyoming is a leading producer of coal–the largest U.S. coal mine is Black Thunder, but coal is plentiful all over the Great Plains state. Casper is nicknamed “The Oil City” because of it’s rich history with black gold, and Gillette calls itself the “Energy Capital of the Nation” due to the city’s large reserves of coal, oil and coalbed methane gas.The State of Wyoming Definition of Medical Waste:
Medical/infectious waste is means any waste generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals. The definition of medical/infectious waste does not include hazardous waste; household waste; ash from incineration of medical/infectious waste, once the incineration process has been completed; human corpses, remains, and anatomical parts that are intended for interment or cremation; or domestic sewage materials. Examples of medical/infectious waste include:
- Cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals, including: cultures from medical and pathological laboratories; cultures and stocks of infectious agents from research and industrial laboratories; wastes from the production of biologicals; discarded live and attenuated vaccines; and culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate, and mix cultures.
- Human pathological waste, including tissues, organs, and body parts and body fluids that are removed during surgery or autopsy, or other medical procedures, and specimens of body fluids and their containers.
- Human blood and blood products including:
- Liquid waste human blood;
- Products of blood;
- Items saturated and/or dripping with human blood; or
- Items that were saturated and/or dripping with human blood that are now caked with dried human blood; including serum, plasma, and other blood components, and their containers, which were used or intended for use in either patient care, testing and laboratory analysis or the development of pharmaceuticals. Intravenous bags are also included in this category.
- Sharps that have been used in animal or human patient care or treatment or in medical, research or industrial laboratories.
- Animal waste including contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding of animals that were known to have been exposed to infectious agents during research (including research in veterinary hospitals), production of biologicals or testing of pharmaceuticals.
- Isolation wastes including biological waste and discarded materials contaminated with blood, excretions, exudates, or secretions from humans who are isolated to protect others from certain highly communicable diseases, or isolated animals known to be infected with highly communicable diseases.
- Unused sharps including the following unused, discarded sharps: hypodermic needles, suture needles, syringes, and scalpel blades.