N.Y. Public Health Law § 1389-AA – Definitions

1. "Regulated medical waste" shall mean any of the following waste which is generated in the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in production and testing of biologicals, provided, however, that "regulated medical waste" shall not include any hazardous waste identified or listed pursuant to section 27-0903 of the environmental conservation law, or any household waste as defined in regulations promulgated under such section.
1. (a) Cultures and stocks. This waste shall include cultures and stocks of agents infectious to humans, and associated biologicals, cultures from medical or pathological laboratories, cultures and stocks of infectious agents from research and industrial laboratories, wastes from the production of biologicals, discarded live or attenuated vaccines, or culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate or mix cultures.
2. (b) Human pathological wastes. This waste shall include tissue, organs, and body parts (except teeth and the contiguous structures of bone and gum), body fluids that are removed during surgery, autopsy, or other medical procedures, or specimens of body fluids and their containers, and discarded material saturated with such body fluids other than urine, provided that the commissioner, by duly promulgated regulation, may exclude such discarded material saturated with body fluids from this definition if the commissioner finds that it does not pose a significant risk to public health. This waste shall not include urine or fecal materials submitted for other than diagnosis of infectious diseases.
3. (c) Human blood and blood products. This waste shall include: (i) discarded waste human blood, discarded blood components (e.g. serum and plasma) containers with free flowing blood or blood components or discarded saturated material containing free flowing blood or blood components; and (ii) materials saturated with blood or blood products provided that the commissioner, by duly promulgated regulation, may exclude such material saturated with blood or blood products from this definition if the commissioner finds that it does not pose a significant risk to public health.
4. (d) Sharps. This waste shall include but not be limited to discarded unused sharps and sharps used in animal or human patient care, medical research, or clinical or pharmaceutical laboratories, hypodermic, intravenous, or other medical needles, hypodermic or intravenous syringes to which a needle or other sharp is still attached, Pasteur pipettes, scalpel blades, or blood vials. This waste shall include, but not be limited to, other types of broken or unbroken glass (including slides and cover slips) in contact with infectious agents. This waste shall not include those parts of syringes from which sharps are specifically designed to be easily removed and from which sharps have actually been removed, and which are intended for recycling or other disposal, so long as such syringes have not come in contact with infectious agents.
5. (e) Animal waste. This waste shall mean discarded materials, including carcasses, body parts, body fluids, blood, or bedding originating from animals known to be contaminated with infectious agents or from animals inoculated during research, production of biologicals, or pharmaceutical testing with infectious agents.
6. (f) Any other waste material containing infectious agents designated by the commissioner as regulated medical waste.
2. "Storage" shall mean the containment of regulated medical waste in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such waste.
3. "Transport" shall mean the movement of regulated medical waste from the point of generation to any intermediate points and finally to the point of ultimate disposal.
4. "Treatment" shall mean any method, technique or process designed to change the character or composition of any regulated medical waste so as to either neutralize such waste or to render such waste not infectious as approved by the commissioner pursuant to section thirteen hundred eighty-nine-dd of this title.
5. "Infectious agents" shall mean any organisms that cause disease or an adverse health impact to humans, except that the commissioner may prescribe by regulation additional infectious agents as may be necessary to protect human health and the environment.