Clinical waste disposal and CDC standard precautions

Abstract

Blenkharn contends that a ‘dichotomous waste classification based upon risk completely undermines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Universal/Standard Precautions’, as these, according to him, ‘embrace the concept of a single waste stream for all clinical waste’. Such statements are inherently difficult to accept, simply because they diverge from the actual recommendations of the CDC itself. In fact, the CDC Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Healthcare Facilities state that only microbiology laboratory wastes, bulk blood and blood products, pathology or anatomy waste and sharps have any sort of scientifically backed evidence of risk for infectious disease transmission and therefore require special handling and precautions. [Excerpt]