United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA/530-SW-90-014A
January 1990
Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OS-305)
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Disposal Tips for
Home Health Care
Printed on recycled paper
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Educating Your Patients
Millions of
households
produce
medical
wastes
Every year, Americans use over one bil-
lion sharp objects in their homes to ad-
minister health care. These "sharps"
include lancets, needles, and syringes.
If they are not disposed of in puncture-
resistant containers, they can injure
trash handlers; can increase the risk of
infection if they come in contact with
contaminated materials such as ban-
dages, dressings, and surgical gloves;
and can pollute the environment.
We need
your help
in educating
them
As a health-care professional, you play
an important role in instructing your pa-
tients and clients on how to safely prac-
tice health care at home. Through this
brochure, we are asking your help in
distributing the attached disposal tips to
them. The tear-out explains how to
safely dispose of sharps and other con-
taminated medical waste, such as ban-
dages and soiled disposable sheets.
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Your state or community environmental
programs may have other requirements
or suggestions for disposing of your
medical waste. You should contact them
for any information you may need.
More Information
For additional copies of these disposal
tips, please call the RCRA Hotline Mon-
day through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30
p.m. EST. The national toll-free number
is (800) 424-9346; for the hearing im-
paired, it is TDD (800) 553-7672. In
Washington, DC, the number is (202)
382-3000 or TDD (202) 475-9652.
Home Health-Care Sponsors
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
This American Diabetes Association
program is American Federation of Home Health
Sponsored Agencies
by: American Hospital Association
American Medical Association
American Pharmaceutical Association
Association for Practitioners in Infection
Control
Food and Drug Administration
Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA)
Health Industry Manufacturers Association
National Association for Home Care
National Wholesale Druggists' Association
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association
Visiting Nurse Association of Washington, D.C.
Office of Solid Waste
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20460 EPA/53(,SW-90-014B
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Disposal Tips for Home Health Care
You can help prevent injury, illness, and
pollution by following some simple
steps when you dispose of the sharp
objects and contaminated materials you
use in administering health care in your
home. You should place:
Needles,
Syringes,
Lancets, and
Other sharp objects
in a hard-plastic or metal container
with a screw-on or tightly secured lid.
A coffee can will do, but you should be
sure to reinforce the plastic lid with
heavy-duty tape. Do not put sharp ob-
jects in any container that will be re-
cycled or returned to a store. Do not use
glass or clear plastic containers. Finally,
make sure that you keep containers
with sharp objects out of the reach of
young children.
We also recommend that:
Soiled bandages,
Disposable sheets, and
Medical gloves
be placed in securely fastened plastic
bags before you put them in the gar-
bage can with your other trash.
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Please
distribute
the attached
tear-out
to your
patients
We urge you to distribute the disposal
tips tear-out to your patients and to en-
courage them to read it. You might also
place this information in areas easily ac-
cessible to all your patients and clients.
You can get additional free copies of
this brochure or reprints of the tear-out
by sending the attached order form to
EPA. For further information on medical
waste, you can call the RCRA Hotline
Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to
7:30 p.m. EST. The national toll-free
number is (800) 424-9346; for the hear-
ing impaired, it is TDD (800) 553-7672.
In Washington, DC, the number is (202)
382-3000 or TDD (202) 475-9652.
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