Nebraska Administrative Code
Topic - ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
Title 132 - NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Chapter 1 - DEFINITIONS
Section 132-1-053 - Infectious waste
Current through March 20, 2024
"Infectious waste" shall mean a solid waste capable of causing an infectious disease to humans. For a waste to be deemed infectious, consideration will be given to those elements required in order for infection to occur. These elements include the presence of a pathogen or causative organism, of significant virulence, in an adequate dose, which is able to gain a portal of entry in a susceptible host. Infectious waste shall include, but not be limited to, substances from the following classifications:
053.01 Blood, Blood Products and Body Fluids
This classification includes fluid blood, blood products and body fluids, and any items contaminated with any of these fluids, if a pourable quantity (ability of a liquid or semi-solid form to drip or flow) is present. The term blood and blood products includes serum, plasma, and other blood components. The term body fluid includes semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, amniotic fluid and any other body fluid visibly contaminated with blood.
053.02 Infectious Sharps Waste
This classification includes all discarded items from diagnosis, treatment, or immunization which can potentially transmit disease by breaking the human skin, and includes hypodermic needles, scalpels, razor blades, breakable glass containers, blood vials, culture dishes, used slides, glass products and broken glass or other sharp items that have come into contact with or have been contaminated by material considered infectious.
053.03 Laboratory Waste
This classification includes all cultures and stocks of infectious agents, including specimen cultures from medical and pathological laboratories, cultures and stocks 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.
053.04 Contaminated Animal Waste
This classification includes blood and body fluids, carcasses, body parts, excrement and bedding from animals contaminated with agents that may cause human disease.
053.05 Waste Identified by Infectious Waste Generators
This classification includes those wastes determined by the infectious waste generator or the infectious waste generator's infectious control staff/committee to be treated as infectious waste because of the risk of disease posed by such waste.
