Environmental Health & Safety Office

Animals and Animal Waste

• If an animal has been injected with any pathogen, it is considered "medical waste" regulated under 105 CMR 480.00.  All animal parts should be treated as medical waste and disposed of through a contracted company.  Currently, the College is using Medical Waste Disposal, Inc. of Natick.
  

• It is recommended that ALL animals be disposed of as medical waste by the contracted company.   This is in the interest of preventing a problem in the future. There is no clear consensus between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Town of Framingham Department of Public Health.
  

• In regard to the small amount of blood that is drawn from animals, it is recommended that this also be treated as medical waste, rather than disposed of through the regular trash or in the water supply.  Again, there is no clear consensus between Public Health officials, but it is recommended to dispose of this "properly".  The blood products can be disposed of in a Sharps container, or in the a red-bagged medical waste container.

The medical waste containers do not keep animals or blood products frozen.  Therefore, it is recommended that you keep the animals and blood frozen until a container can be filled, and then disposed of.  The smell of these animals would cause concern, and this is addressed in the regulations of 105 CMR 480.000. 

Whenever and wherever you need to have a 2 cubic yard box, please contact Maureen Bagge Fowler, Environmental Health & Safety Coordinator at x4633 and have it delivered to the laboratories.  Containers can generally be disposed of within two business days.