Virginia Law

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Chapter 14 (§ 10.1-1400 et seq.) of Title 10.1 of the Code of Virginia defines words and terms that supplement those in this chapter. The Solid Waste Management Regulations (9VAC20-81) define additional words and terms that supplement those in the statutes and this chapter. When the statutes, as cited, and the solid waste management regulations, as cited, conflict, the definitions of the statutes are controlling.

"Approved sanitary sewer system" means a network of sewers serving a facility that has been approved in writing by the Virginia Department of Health, including affiliated local health departments. Such sewer systems may be approved septic tank or drainfield systems and onsite treatment systems, or they may be a part of a collection system served by a VPDES permitted treatment works.

"Ash" means the residual waste material produced from an incineration process or any combustion.

"ASTM" means the American Society for Testing and Materials.

"Autoclave" means a wet thermal treatment process that uses saturated steam under a specified amount of pressure for a specified exposure time and at a specific temperature.

"Bioaerosol" means a suspension of airborne particles, generally comprised of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, viruses) or materials of biological origin released from humans, animals, plants, soil, water, or other sources. Particles range in size from very small to very large, and could include liquid droplets and materials left behind after such droplets evaporate (known as "droplet nuclei").

"Bioburden" means the degree of microbial contamination, including the type and total population of organisms, the number of spore formers present, and their resistance on any material and in a given amount of waste material prior to undergoing treatment.

"Biohazard" means biological substances that pose a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily that of humans, but can include substances harmful to animals.

"Biological indicator" means a preparation of a specific microorganism of a known concentration and resistance to a specific treatment process or to a known physical or chemical condition and is used to evaluate the capability of a process to effectively treat regulated medical waste. "Biological indicators" include bacterial spores or other microorganisms inoculated onto carriers (such as spore strips), spore suspensions, and self-contained biological indicators.

"Biological toxin" or "toxin" means a poison, especially a protein or conjugated protein produced by certain animals, plants, and pathogenic bacteria that is highly poisonous for other living organisms.

"Biologicals" means any preparations (sera, nonviable vaccines, vaccines attenuated in a manner that prevents propagation, antigens, toxins, and antitoxins) derived from a living organism or its products for use in diagnosis, immunization, or treatment of human beings or animals.

"Blood" means human blood, human blood components (e.g., serum and plasma), and products made from human blood.

"Bloodborne pathogen" means pathogenic microorganisms that are present in human blood (including human blood components and products made from human blood) that can cause disease in humans.

"Board" means the Virginia Waste Management Board.

"Body fluids" means liquid emanating or derived from humans, including blood; cerebrospinal, synovial, pleural, peritoneal, and pericardial fluids; semen and vaginal secretions; amniotic fluid; and any other body fluids that are contaminated with blood, mixed or combined with body fluids, or suspected by the health care professional in charge of being capable of producing an infectious disease in humans. This term does not include nail and skin clippings, breast milk, sputum, semen, teeth, sweat, tears, urine, vomitus, or saliva that are not contaminated with visible blood unless transmission of an infectious disease is possible as determined by a health care professional.

"Calibration" means the demonstration that a measuring device produces accurate results within specified limits of its operating range.

"Captive regulated medical waste management facility" means a regulated medical waste management facility that is located on property owned or controlled by the generator of all waste managed or disposed of at that facility.

"Category A infectious substance" means an infectious substance in a form capable of causing permanent disability or life-threatening or fatal disease in otherwise healthy humans or animals when exposure to the substance occurs. Category A infectious substances are defined by 49 CFR 173.134 of the U.S. Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations.

"Category A waste" means wastes that are contaminated with a Category A infectious substance and must be packaged and transported in accordance with the U.S. Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations or an applicable Department of Transportation special permit.

"Challenge testing" means periodic monitoring or testing of a regulated medical waste treatment device or system that employs the use of biological indicators to demonstrate continued, effective operation of the device or system.

"Closure" means the act of securing a regulated medical waste management facility and terminating use of the facility for management of regulated medical waste pursuant to the requirements of this chapter.

"Container" means any portable enclosure in which a material is stored, transported, treated, or otherwise handled.

"Contaminated" means the presence or the reasonably anticipated presence of blood or other body fluids, infectious agent, biohazard, or biological toxin on an item or surface.

"Cremains" means the ash or bone shadows that remain after cremation.

"Culture" means an infectious substance containing a pathogen that is intentionally propagated. "Culture" does not include a human or animal patient specimen.

"Cultures and stock" means materials derived from the management (e.g., the systems used to grow and maintain infectious agents in vitro, including nutrient agars, gels, broths, and cell lines) of agents infectious to humans, and associated biologicals, from medical or pathological laboratories, from research and industrial laboratories, or from the production of biologicals and includes discarded live or attenuated vaccines capable of propagation, or culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate, or mix cultures.

"Cycle" means the total operating time required for a device to treat regulated medical waste, and for an autoclave, includes warm-up, residence time, and cool down time.

"D-value" or "decimal reduction value" means the thermal resistance or time in minutes at a specific temperature that is required for a one-log or 90% reduction of a specific microbial population under specified treatment conditions.

"Decontamination" means the use of physical or chemical means to remove, inactivate, or destroy human pathogens on a surface or item to the point where they are no longer capable of transmitting disease and the surface or item is rendered safe for handling, use, or disposal.

"Department" or "DEQ" means the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

"Director" means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality or the director's designee.

"Discard" means to throw away or reject. When a material is soiled, contaminated, or no longer usable, and it is placed in a waste receptacle for disposal or treatment prior to disposal, it is considered discarded.

"Discharge" or "waste discharge" means the accidental or intentional spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping of regulated medical waste into or on any land or state waters.

"Disinfectant" means an antimicrobial product used on hard inanimate surfaces and objects to destroy or irreversibly inactivate infectious agents, such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, but not necessarily bacterial spores. There are three types of disinfectants registered by EPA based on the type of efficacy data submitted: limited, general or broad-spectrum, and hospital grade.

"Disinfection" means any procedure that involves the application of an antimicrobial agent (disinfectant) registered with EPA that is consistent with its approved use in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Disinfection shall not be considered a form of treatment, and appropriate handling of disinfected materials, as well as health and safety precautions, shall still be required to achieve protection of public health and the environment.

"Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent of it may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters.

"Disposal facility" means a facility or part of a facility at which solid waste is intentionally placed into or on any land or water, and at which the solid waste will remain after closure.

"Domestic sewage" means untreated sanitary wastes that pass through a sewer system.

"Efficacy testing" means testing of a treatment method, system, or device, conducted by a laboratory, independent of the system manufacturer, in conformance with generally recognized scientific principles, microbiologic examinations, or other pertinent assessments of waste material to establish operating parameters for effective treatment of regulated medical waste.

"Effluent" means liquid waste such as spills, wash water, and wastewater emanating from regulated medical waste storage, transfer, and treatment areas.

"Empty" means wastes have been removed from a container using the practices commonly employed to remove materials of that type such as pouring, pumping, or aspirating.

"EPA" means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Exposure time" or "residence time" means the length of time at which the treatment method is held at a specific temperature, pressure, irradiation level, or chemical concentration for effective treatment of regulated medical waste.

"Federal agency" means any department, agency, or other instrumentality of the federal government, any independent agency, or establishment of the federal government, including any government corporation and the Government Printing Office.

"Generate" means to cause waste to become subject to regulation. At the point a regulated medical waste is discarded, it has been generated. Timeframes associated with storage and refrigeration are linked to the date the waste is placed in storage, not the date the waste is generated.

"Generator" means any person, by site location, whose act or process produces regulated medical waste identified or defined in this chapter or whose act first causes a regulated medical waste to become subject to this chapter.

"Hazardous material" means a substance or material that has been so designated under 49 CFR Parts 171 and 173.

"Hazardous waste" means any solid waste defined as a "hazardous waste" by the Virginia Hazardous Waste Management Regulations.

"Health care professional" means a medical doctor or nurse practicing under a license issued by the Department of Health Professions.

"Household sharps" means any needles, syringes with attached needles, lancets, auto injectors, pen needles, and any other devices that are used to penetrate the skin for the delivery of medications that are derived from households through self-care, rather than under the care of a home health care professional or at a health care facility. "Household sharps" are sharps that, except for the fact that they are derived from a household, would otherwise be classified as a regulated medical waste in accordance with this chapter.

"Household waste" means any waste material, including garbage, trash, and refuse, derived from households. Households include single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas. "Household waste" does not include sanitary waste in septic tanks (septage) that is regulated by other state agencies. Waste generated by a health care professional or nonstationary health care provider administering care in a household, mobile unit, or commercially operated residence, or outpatient recovery facility that meets the definition of regulated medical waste is not household waste and must be managed as regulated medical waste.

"Inactivated" or "inactivation" means having reached the point, through autoclaving, incineration, or other validated treatment process, where the waste material is no longer infectious, does not pose an infection risk, and is not considered to be a regulated medical waste.

"Infectious agent" means any organism or agent, including a synthetic agent, that causes disease or an adverse health impact in humans or can be transferred to humans, as well as animals that have an economic impact on human society.

"Infectious substance" means a material known or reasonably expected to contain a pathogen, including bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, parasites, fungi, or prions, that can cause disease in humans or animals.

"Inner packaging" means a packaging that is the primary container, such as a red bag or sharps container, for which an outer packaging is required for transport.

"Nonstationary health care provider" means those persons who routinely provide health care at locations that change each day or frequently. This term includes traveling doctors, nurses, midwives, and others providing care in patients' homes, first aid providers operating from emergency vehicles, and mobile blood service collection stations.

"Offsite" means any site that does not meet the definition of onsite, as defined in this part, including areas of a facility that are not on geographically contiguous property or outside of the boundary of the site.

"Onsite" means the same or geographically contiguous property, which may be divided by public or private right-of-way, provided the entrance and exit to the facility are controlled by the owner or the operator of the facility. Noncontiguous properties owned by the same person but connected by a right-of-way that he controls and to which the public does not have access are also considered onsite property.

"Operating parameters" means the specific conditions of pressure, temperature, residence time, chemical concentration, and other physical or engineering condition established through efficacy testing of a treatment method and verified through validation testing to be effective for treatment of regulated medical waste.

"Outer packaging" means packaging that is the secondary container or the outermost enclosure, such as a disposable or reusable rigid pail, fiberboard carton, drum, or portable bin that is under normal conditions of use leak-resistant, strong enough to prevent tearing or bursting, puncture resistant, impervious to moisture, has leak proof sides and bottom, has a tight fitting cover or is otherwise closable, and is in good repair, of a composite or combination packaging together with any absorbent materials, cushioning and any other components necessary to contain and protect inner packaging.

"Overpack" means an enclosure that is used to provide protection or convenience in handling of a package or to consolidate two or more packages. "Overpack" does not include a vehicle, freight container, or aircraft unit load device. Examples of overpacks are one or more packages (i) placed or stacked onto a load board such as a pallet and secured by strapping, shrink wrapping, stretch wrapping, or other suitable means; or (ii) placed in a protective outer packaging such as a box or crate.

"Packaging" means the assembly of one or more containers and any other components necessary to assure compliance with minimum packaging requirements under Regulations Governing the Transportation of Hazardous Materials (9VAC20-110) or this chapter.

"Parametric controls" or "parametric monitoring device" means real time monitoring instrumentation integral to the treatment unit that is designed to quantitatively measure operational parameters, such as temperature, pressure, or other parameter, and provide an electronic or paper record of measurements that can be correlated to treatment. Parametric controls may be used to regulate or maintain preset operating parameters.

"Pathogen" means a microorganism, including bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, parasites or fungi, or other agent, such as a proteinaceous infectious particle (prion), that can cause disease in humans or animals.

"Patient specimen" means human or animal materials collected directly from humans or animals and transported for research, diagnosis, clinical or investigational activities, or disease treatment or prevention. "Patient specimen" includes excreta, secreta, blood and its components, tissue and tissue swabs, body parts, and specimens in transport media (e.g., transwabs, culture media, and blood culture bottles) until such time that the patient specimen is discarded.

"Prion" means a pathogenic agent that is able to cause abnormal folding of specific normal cellular proteins called "prion proteins," which are found most abundantly in the brain. This abnormal folding is associated with neurological disease. Prions are proteinaceous infectious particles that are highly resistant to all but the most destructive methods of inactivation. They require specific inactivation, disposal, and containment procedures.

"Process rate" means the maximum rate of waste acceptance that a regulated medical waste management facility can process for transfer, treatment, or storage. This rate is limited by the capabilities of equipment, personnel, and infrastructure.

"Processing" means preparation, treatment, or conversion of regulated medical waste by a series of actions, changes, or functions that bring about a decided result.

"Regulated medical waste" or "RMW" means solid wastes defined to be regulated medical wastes in Part II (9VAC20-121-90) this chapter.

"Regulated medical waste management facility" means a site used for planned transfer, treatment, or disposal of regulated medical waste. A regulated medical waste management facility may consist of more than one transfer, treatment, or disposal unit. A regulated medical waste management facility is a type of solid waste management facility.

"Regulated medical waste transfer station" means a regulated medical waste management facility where regulated medical waste is received for the purpose of its subsequent consolidation, over-packing, storage, trans-loading, or subsequent transfer to another regulated medical waste management facility for further processing, treatment, transfer, or disposal. Parking a vehicle containing regulated medical waste during transportation for 24 hours or more is considered a regulated medical waste transfer station.

"Regulated medical waste treatment facility" means a regulated medical waste management facility where regulated medical waste is treated so that it no longer constitutes a threat to public health and the environment, and the waste is subsequently managed as solid waste.

"Reusable medical device" means a device, including surgical forceps, endoscopes, and stethoscopes, that is designed and labeled for multiple uses and is reprocessed by thorough cleaning followed by high-level disinfection or sterilization between patients.

"Sanitizer" means a substance, or mixture of substances, that reduces the bacterial population in the inanimate environment by significant numbers, (e.g., 3 log₁₀ reduction) or more but does not destroy or eliminate all bacteria.

"Select agent or toxin" means a subset of biological agents and toxins that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture have determined have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products. Select agents and toxins are specified under 42 CFR §§ 73.3 and 73.4, 9 CFR §§ 121.3 and 121.4, and 7 CFR § 331.3.

"Sharps" means any object contaminated with a pathogen or that may become contaminated with a pathogen through handling or during transportation and also capable of cutting or penetrating skin or a packaging material. Sharps include needles, syringes, scalpels, broken glass, culture slides, culture dishes, broken capillary tubes, broken rigid plastic, and exposed ends of dental wires. Discarded unused sharps contained in the original liner and outer packaging are excluded from this definition.

"Sharps drop box" means a secure, tamper-proof sharps container for the temporary storage of only household sharps provided for the convenience of individual home generators who choose to transport their own household sharps to the collection point and where collected sharps are packaged, labeled, and managed as regulated medical waste.

"Shipment" means the movement or quantity conveyed by a transporter of a regulated medical waste between a generator and a designated facility or a subsequent transporter.

"Shipping paper" means a shipping order, bill of lading, manifest, or other shipping document serving a similar purpose and containing the information required by the U.S. Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations.

"Site" means all land or water and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on them used for treating, storing, and disposing of regulated medical waste. This term includes adjacent land within the facility boundary used for the utility systems such as repair, storage, shipping or processing areas, or other areas incident to the management of regulated medical waste.

"Solid waste" means any of those materials defined as "solid waste" in 9VAC20-81-95 of the Virginia Solid Waste Management Regulations. Regulated medical waste that has been treated in accordance with this chapter is considered solid waste.

"Spill" means any accidental or unpermitted discharge, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, or dumping of wastes or materials that, when spilled, become wastes.

"Spore" means a dormant form of a microorganism that is more resistant to adverse conditions.

"Sterilize" means to inactivate all microorganisms on materials or waste.

"Storage" means the holding, including during transportation, of regulated medical waste.

"Surrogate waste load" means a load of noninfectious material used in validation test runs of treatment units that represents materials and packaging that would be found in the regulated medical waste stream to be treated by the facility.

"Transportation" or "transport" means the movement of regulated medical waste by air, rail, highway, or water.

"Transporter" means a person authorized in accordance with federal and state regulations and engaged in transportation or movement of regulated waste.

"Treatment" means any method, technology, or process designed to change the character or composition of any regulated medical waste so that it is inactivated and no longer constitutes a threat to public health and the environment. Treatment does not include compaction or disinfection.

"Treatment method" means a process including wet thermal sterilization (such as autoclaving) or dry thermal sterilization, chemical sterilization, combustion or incineration, and alternate technologies used to treat regulated medical waste.

"Thermochemical indicator" means a device (e.g., tape, paper strips, integrators, or small ampoules) that responds to the treatment process parameters in some measurable fashion, such as changing color or becoming striped when subjected to temperatures intended to provide sterilization of materials.

"Thermochemical recording device" means a device (e.g., thermocouple, wireless data loggers, or chemical monitoring probes) that reacts in response to one or more critical treatment parameters (such as temperature) and yields a quantifiable value that correlates to microbial lethality or predictable inactivation of microbial spore populations.

"Unauthorized waste" means waste that is not authorized by the department to be managed by the regulated medical waste management facility. Examples are site-specific and dependent upon the treatment technology and permit but may include chemotherapeutic, pathological, pharmaceutical, radioactive, chemical, hazardous, or other wastes.

"Used health care product" means a medical, diagnostic, or research device or piece of equipment, or personal care product used by consumers, medical professionals, or pharmaceutical providers that does not otherwise meet the definition of patient specimen, biological product, or regulated medical waste, but is contaminated with potentially infectious body fluids or materials and is not decontaminated or disinfected to remove or mitigate the infectious hazard prior to transportation.

"Validation testing" means procedures conducted at the site of a regulated medical waste treatment facility prior to initial operation of a treatment system or device, the purpose of which is to demonstrate, through established operating parameters, the effective treatment of regulated medical waste.

"Vector" means a living animal, insect, or other arthropod that is capable of transmitting a pathogen or infectious disease from one organism to another.

"VPDES" means Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, the Virginia system for the issuance of permits pursuant to the Permit Regulation (9VAC25-31), the State Water Control Law (§ 62.1-44.2 et seq. of the Code of Virginia), and § 402 of the Clean Water Act (33 USC § 1251 et seq.).

"Waste management" means the entire process of managing waste from the point of generation to final disposition. For regulated medical waste, the process includes collection and segregation, characterization, classification, packaging, labeling, processing, staging, storing, decontamination, treatment, transportation, and disposal, as well as monitoring of waste management operations and sites to ensure that the management of these wastes is protective of human health and the environment.

"Waste management facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on them used for treating, storing, or disposing of waste.

"Z-value" means the temperature change required for the D-value to change by 1 log (i.e., by a factor of 10) for a specific microbial population under specified treatment conditions.