Pharmaceutical waste is a source of concern for many medical facilities, so how do you and your business manage Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal effectively? While most types of regulated waste fall into broad and generally applicable categories, pharmaceutical waste is more complex.
With a wide variety of highly specific stipulations, waste-type categories, and exclusions, how can busy administrators ensure their facilities stay in compliance while maintaining efficient operations? Fortunately, you can ensure your medical facility meets its obligations by familiarizing yourself with the various types of regulated pharmaceutical products and partnering with a fully certified and permitted medical waste service provider.
What Is Pharmaceutical Waste?
Pharmaceutical waste is any pharmaceutical product that is designated for disposal, no longer used as intended, or unable to be returned to the manufacturer. Disposal regulations ensure that active ingredients are deactivated or destroyed and that all accompanying materials are properly disposed of since pharmaceutical substances present a clear risk to humans, animals, and the environment. Like medical waste, pharmaceutical waste can also be considered hazardous waste. Unused pharmaceuticals are a hazard for abuse and are a threat to the environment if disposed of improperly.
What Are The Different Types Of Pharmaceutical Waste?
Discontinued or unused medication, partially filled vials and syringes, prescriptions, pre-filled syringes and IVs and sample medications. The federal government provides extensive regulatory guidelines for classifying pharmaceutical waste to determine its disposal requirements, but individual states may have different or more stringent requirements. Pharmaceutical waste is either hazardous or non-hazardous. Hazardous waste can be divided into three primary categories: listed pharmaceutical waste (RCRA), chemotherapy waste (bulk), and controlled substances.
A Pharmaceutical waste disposal company will hold Special Permits for Transporting Pharmaceutical Waste. To transport pharmaceutical waste, you or your designated provider must maintain a specific transportation permit. You are also required to maintain a hazardous waste permit to handle hazardous pharmaceutical materials, as described above. Although the regulatory requirements for managing pharmaceutical waste are complex, they are easily manageable once you familiarize yourself with the broader categories and partner with a fully certified and permitted waste management provider.
When considering all the above information on the importance of Pharmaceutical waste disposal it should really be a priority that you hold, store and dispose of all pharmaceutical waste according to the regulations. You can be helped with this by using a disposal company with years of experience and innovative equipment and designs to ensure that everything you need in order to achieve a successful and safe disposal. They will do everything possible to ensure you are abiding by laws and regulations and more so will use their high quality equipment to help contain, store and remove any types of pharmaceutical waste. With a professional company you can also be confident that once taken away all your waste will be disposed of efficiently and legally. Relying on a professional company to help with legalities will always be beneficial, your company will no longer have to be concerned about waste disposal.
