Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§6992a Listing of medical wastes

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 82— - SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER X— - DEMONSTRATION MEDICAL WASTE TRACKING PROGRAM › § 6992a

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Within 6 months after November 1, 1988, the Administrator must write rules that list the kinds of medical waste to be tracked in the demonstration program. The list must include at least eleven kinds of medical waste but can include more. The list covers things like cultures and stocks of infectious agents, tissues and organs removed during surgery or autopsy, blood and blood products, used sharps (needles and other sharp objects), contaminated animals and bedding, surgery and lab materials that touched infectious agents, dialysis items that touched patients’ blood, used medical equipment that contacted infectious agents, and other blood- or bodily‑fluid‑contaminated materials or waste from patient care that the Administrator finds dangerous. The Administrator may leave off any of the items numbered 6 through 10 if he finds they do not pose a big current or future danger to people or the environment when they are treated, stored, moved, thrown away, or otherwise handled poorly.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §6992a

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Not later than 6 months after November 1, 1988, the Administrator shall promulgate regulations listing the types of medical waste to be tracked under the demonstration program. Except as provided in subsection (b), such list shall include, but need not be limited to, each of the following types of solid waste:

(1)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.

(2)Pathological wastes, including tissues, organs, and body parts that are removed during surgery or autopsy.

(3)Waste human blood and products of blood, including serum, plasma, and other blood components.

(4)Sharps that have been used in patient care or in medical, research, or industrial laboratories, including hypodermic needles, syringes, pasteur pipettes, broken glass, and scalpel blades.

(5)Contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding of animals that were exposed to infectious agents during research, production of biologicals, or testing of pharmaceuticals.

(6)Wastes from surgery or autopsy that were in contact with infectious agents, including soiled dressings, sponges, drapes, lavage tubes, drainage sets, underpads, and surgical gloves.

(7)Laboratory wastes from medical, pathological, pharmaceutical, or other research, commercial, or industrial laboratories that were in contact with infectious agents, including slides and cover slips, disposable gloves, laboratory coats, and aprons.

(8)Dialysis wastes that were in contact with the blood of patients undergoing hemodialysis, including contaminated disposable equipment and supplies such as tubing, filters, disposable sheets, towels, gloves, aprons, and laboratory coats.

(9)Discarded medical equipment and parts that were in contact with infectious agents.

(10)Biological waste and discarded materials contaminated with blood, excretion, excudates 11 So in original. Probably should be “exudates”. or secretion from human beings or animals who are isolated to protect others from communicable diseases.

(11)Such other waste material that results from the administration of medical care to a patient by a health care provider and is found by the Administrator to pose a threat to human health or the environment.

(b)The Administrator may exclude from the list under this section any categories or items described in paragraphs (6) through (10) of subsection (a) which he determines do not pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 6992a

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73