Drug Disposal Safety and Medical Waste Information

The medical waste rules do not prohibit anyone from disposing of used syringes by putting them in the regular trash bin or dumpster provided that the sharps are kept in a thick, hard-walled plastic container with a cap or lid. Home, office or institutional generators should always contact their local solid waste authority (may be city or county) to make sure that there are no local ordinances against this practice.

For businesses, the Solid Waste Section considers any pharmaceutical waste that is not RCRA restricted to be general solid waste and can be disposed of in the regular trash. For residences, many counties have a drop box where residents may bring their unwanted pharmaceuticals for disposal. You can search for drop locations here. It is no longer recommended that unwanted pharmaceuticals be disposed by flushing down a commode.

Medical waste is often referred to as hazardous waste when it should more properly be referred to as biohazardous waste to distinguish it from chemical hazardous waste. These are two separate regulatory structures that can be confused when a biohazard is inaccurately labelled a hazardous waste. Medical wastes come under the authority of the state’s medical waste rules and chemical wastes are under the authority of the Hazardous Waste Section.

NC Medical waste rules are promulgated at the state level. Hazardous waste regulations come from the federal level. Hazardous waste transport, storage and disposal rules are more stringent than those for medical waste in North Carolina. Hazardous chemical wastes pose a bigger threat to human health and the environment. Therefore, the hazardous waste rules would take precedence.

If the regulated medical waste cannot be safely separated from the chemical hazardous wastes then it is best to treat the entire load as hazardous waste.

Whether the load is incinerated at a hazardous waste incinerator or land filled at a hazardous waste land fill, both of these methods exceed the NC medical waste requirements for disposal.

Unless the vaccines are in some way still infectious and can cause disease, they are considered non-regulated medical waste and may be disposed of with the regular trash.