Most people working in the medical industry, whether clinical or administrative personnel, know that red Human Waste Disposal Bags are specifically used to isolate certain types of medical waste. If these Biohazard Medical Wastes are mixed with conventional wastes that may eventually enter local landfills, they can cause infection hazards. However, the rules governing the disposal of medical waste may be confusing, and things may become unclear when determining which wastes belong to and which do not belong to these bags.

Medical waste service professionals regularly see evidence of this confusion when dealing with waste from medical practices, clinics, and other medical facilities. Red Biohazard Bags, in particular, are often found to contain waste that is wrongly classified by clinical staff at collection points. In some cases, misclassification can lead to items belonging to conventional waste occupying the space of Biohazard Bags. In other cases, items that should be segregated into other waste streams, such as sharps containers or hazardous waste containers, are found in Red Trash Bags.

These types of mistakes are frustrating for institutional managers and managers. Especially when they cause problems for employers, such as garbage collection problems, high cost of Medical Hazardous Waste Disposal, or worse, violations and/or fines. To help you avoid these problems, here's a brief introduction to what should and shouldn't be put in those red Biohazard Plastic Bags.

What should be in the red biohazard bag?

The Red Medical Waste Bag is used for the treatment of biohazardous regulated medical waste, which means that it may transmit blood-borne pathogens. According to OSHA's bloodborne pathogen standard, this includes liquid or semi-liquid blood or other potentially infectious substances (OPIM), contaminated substances that will release liquid or semi-liquid blood or OPIM if compressed, substances that agglomerate with dry blood or OPIM and can release these substances during transportation, and pathological and microbial wastes containing blood or OPIM.

If blood or OPIM may drip or peel off from the waste or be squeezed out during treatment, it should be disposed of in a red bag. This means that the following common medical waste products should be packed in red Biohazard Disposal Bags:

• Blood, blood products and OPIM

• Dressings, cotton balls, sample swabs, or other materials soaked or caked by blood or OPIM

• Paper towels and other disposable materials are used to clean up spills containing blood or OPIM

• Disposable gloves or gowns soaked/caked with blood or OPIM

• The tube is contaminated with visible blood or OPIM

• Urine sample cup with visible blood

• Tissue and small pathological waste

• Used Petri dish, test tube, or bottle

• Wastes that are often thrown into Red Hazard Bags but do not belong to red bags include:

• A diaper or pad that is wet with urine or soiled with feces

• Vomit or vomit soak

• IV bag 

• Patient curtain (unless full of blood or OPIM)

• Disposable work clothes and masks (unless soaked with blood or OPIM)

• Paper table cover (unless full of blood or OPIM)

• Bulk liquid

• Loose sharps

Although these lists can give you a better understanding of medical waste disposal rules, which should and should not be put in Red Bio Bags, they are certainly not all. If you have questions about how to properly classify and dispose of specific waste generated in the workplace, your medical waste service provider should be able to help you answer these questions.