As per the definition- ‘Sharps waste is defined as a kind of medical waste that is capable of piercing the human body and causing lots of fatal contaminations due to it.’

No doubt, the syringes, the needles, lancets, connection needles and auto-injectors are some products which fall into this category and then fall into the sharps containers after their use.

All of such sharps are handled with double the carefulness by biohazard waste disposal companies of the stipulated region.

However, an element that is highly disregarded as sharps waste is the glassware. The medical waste contains lots of glass items, including vacutainer tubes, Petri dishes, slides and capillary tubes etc.

All such elements could be contaminated and thus run the risk of delivering infections. However, all such glass products (even if unbroken) are categorized under sharps wastes only.

Why Is Glass AForm Of Sharps Waste?

Any kind of glassware, whether broken or not, should always go into proper sharps containers.

Why so?

This is since,even when the glass is unbroken, it is strong enough to cut holes the bags it gets stored and you cannot even deny its chances of puncturing plastic containers which are not too rigid in nature.

When any of the waste bags or containers get punctured, chances of medical accidents and contaminants increase a great deal. This could hurt the waste managers at a healthcare center, the people who come in contact and even the transporters of medical wastes.

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Thus, it is essential to transfer all kind of medical glassware in designated sharps waste containers only. The containers should be FDA-approved and should fulfill all the aspects relating safe storage of sharps wastes.

Some Other Safety Considerations With Glass Wastes:

If you are a resident of Durham, no doubt you should consult the most proficient waste management agency for your glass-related medical waste disposal in Durham. However, there are some other safety controls which you can exercise with the medical wastes.

Here are some of them:

• If you intend to send your glass waste for treatment or recycle, these may not gel well with other metallic sharps. Therefore, you need to store them in a separate, rigid container only.
• Do not wait for the container to get fully filled. In fact, schedule its pickup when it reaches a safe handling level.
• Label the glass container well and restrict the discard of any other kind of waste in it.
• Let only the most experienced employees handle the glass wastes and never allow the access of any unauthorized person at places where it is kept.

Glass medical wastes may lead to severer injuries in comparison to other sharps. Therefore, these should be handled with utmost carefulness and get properly disposed ofby an authorized medical waste disposal organization only.

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