DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive

I currently work at a company which occasionally gets involved in testing
on drug products which are derived from human blood.  We give all our lab
employees Bloodborne Pathogen training and offer the the Hep B vaccination
and essentially try to follow all the requirements of the BBP Standard.
These drug products have been tested and are certified to be pathogen-free,
but of course, there is always to remote possibility that they may not be,
so our employees are to use the Universal Precautions when working with
these blood-derived drugs.

I have been using Stericycle to get rid of our waste which consists of
sharps and contaminated gowns, gloves, kim wipes, etc.   I could not find
anyone who would take leftover drug product for disposal, but a reliable
source told me to add 10% bleach to it, let stand for 30 minutes, then
dispose of down the drain.

Here's what I'm wondering...   We are definately a small-scale generator of
this type of waste ( the sharps and contaminated gowns, gloves, kim wipes,
etc.)  The Stericycle service is expensive and inconvenient.  Is anyone
else autoclaving this type of waste (apparently the red bags and red sharps
containers are autoclavable) then placing the autoclaved waste into a
regular trash bag and disposing in the regular trash, or for sharps,
labeling for disposal as non-hazardous sharps after autoclaving?

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer.

Pat Peifer
Project Manager, Safety & Training
West Pharmaceutical Services
101 Gordon Drive
Lionville, PA  19341
Phone:(610) 594-3278
Fax: (610) 594-3005