How do I Dispose of Chemotherapy Waste?

Chemotherapy waste is considered a hazardous material.

Chemotherapy waste contains powerful drugs, as well as human blood and infectious liquids. For this reason, it is considered a hazardous medical waste product and must be treated differently than other waste. The proper handling of chemotherapy waste is required to ensure that the toxins do not infect the personnel that are handling the waste as well as preventing the waste from contaminating the surrounding areas. The guidelines for chemotherapy waste disposal are issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Things You'll Need

• Chemotherapy waste containers

Instructions

1. Look at the associated vials or patient charts to determine the name of the chemotherapy drugs that the waste has come into contact with. Compare the names with the list of hazardous drugs issued by the Centers for Disease Control, which can be found in the Resources section. If the drug is listed in the chart, treat the waste as chemotherapy waste. If it is not listed, treat it as infectious disease waste.

2. Separate out all soft items used to dispense chemotherapy into designated chemotherapy waste bags and seal the adhesive top securely. Such items include empty vials, tubing, gowns, gloves and any other items that do not have needles or sharp edges.

3. Place all chemotherapy waste items have sharp edges into a hard chemotherapy waste container. Such items include needles, lancets and syringes. Screw the top cap firmly onto the top of the container.

4. Locate an authorized medical waste incinerator by visiting the link in the Resources section. Click on the state and then scroll to the bottom and look in the More Information section to see if the state has an approved location. If there is no location, choose an incinerator in a nearby state.

5. Drive the waste to the approved incinerator location, or call the location and arrange to have it picked up. Since there is not an approved incinerator in all areas, they typically have trucks that drive pickup routes regularly.

Tips & Warnings

• Chemotherapy waste containers are available for purchase from medical supply companies.

• Incinerator companies typically charge a fee to dispose of waste, which varies by location.

• Do not place chemotherapy waste in the same disposal containers as infectious waste.

References

• University of Washington: Anti-Neoplastic Agent Administration, Handling & Disposal
• Centers for Disease Control: Preventing Occupational Exposure to Antineoplastic and Other Hazardous Drugs in Health Care Settings

Resources

• Envcap: State-by-State Regulated Medical Waste Resource Locator
• Centers for Disease Control: Sample list of drugs that should be handled as hazardous