3. Biosafety in case of suspected Ebola

3.9 Waste management

3.9.1 Biomedical waste classification

The current biomedical waste classification is as follows:

3.9.1.1 Hazardous waste

Hazardous waste falls into 3 categories:

Cutting, pointed and/or sharp waste material

Cutting or sharp equipment or materials intended to be thrown away, that have or have not been in contact with a biological product (needles, vaccinostyles).

Biohazard and/or infectious waste

Waste which is potentially infectious as it has been contaminated by organisms or its toxins known to (or likely to be) pathogenic to healthy humans or animals, and which have a significant probability of being present in sufficient quantities and with sufficient virulence to transmit disease (blood & derived products with expired date or incompletely used, serum, laboratory culture media with infectious strains, pus, excreta, urine, sputum, petri dishes, sample tubes and various cultures).

Chemical waste

Spoiled or expired reagents, bench waste (Lab analyzers reagents and liquids), radioactive waste, organic solvents.

Household and assimilated waste

No obvious danger: office waste (paper & other), sweepings, incineration ashes.