Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 459 § 459.386 — Definitions for ORS 459.386 to 459.405

Definitions for ORS 459.386 to 459.405. As used in ORS 459.386 to 459.405: (1) “Biological waste” includes blood and blood products, excretions, exudates, secretions, suctionings and other body fluids that cannot be directly discarded into a municipal sewer system, and waste materials saturated with blood or body fluids, but does not include diapers soiled with urine or feces. (2) “Cultures and stocks” includes etiologic agents and associated biologicals, including specimen cultures and dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate and mix cultures, wastes from production of biologicals, and serums and discarded live and attenuated vaccines. “Cultures and stocks” does not include throat and urine cultures. (3) “Disposal” means the final placement of treated infectious waste in a disposal site operating under a permit issued by a state or federal agency. (4) “Infectious waste” includes biological waste, cultures and stocks, pathological waste and sharps. (5)(a) “Pathological waste” includes: (A) Biopsy materials and all human tissues; (B) Anatomical parts that emanate from surgeries, autopsies and obstetrical and laboratory procedures; and (C) Animal carcasses exposed to pathogens in research and the bedding and other waste from such animals. (b) “Pathological waste” does not include teeth or formaldehyde or other preservative agents. (6) “Sharps” includes needles, IV tubing with needles attached, scalpel blades, lancets, glass tubes that could be broken during handling and syringes that have been removed from their original sterile containers. (7) “Storage” means the temporary containment of infectious waste in a manner that does not constitute treatment or disposal of such waste. (8) “Transportation” means the movement of infectious waste from the point of generation over a public highway to any intermediate point or to the point of final treatment. (9) “Treatment” means incineration, sterilization or other method, technique or process approved by the Oregon Health Authority that changes the character or composition of any infectious waste so as to render the waste noninfectious. (10) “Waste pharmaceuticals” means discarded pharmaceuticals that are not: (a) Hazardous waste, as defined in ORS 466.005; (b) Radioactive waste, as defined in ORS 469.300; or (c) A radioactive substance, as defined in ORS 453.005. [1989 c.763 §3; 1993 c.560 §46; 2005 c.22 §331; 2009 c.595 §941; 2025 c.257 §1]