Introduction

For many years, health care workers, hospital administrators, military sanitarians, and other health-related professionals have understood the necessity to protect themselves, their employees/members, and the public from exposure to wastes that might be reservoirs of disease-transmitting organisms. Local ordinances, state and military regulations, and guidelines issued by federal agencies and professional organizations developed around a few simple practices and vice versa. These practices generally included “red-bagging” the solid wastes

and isolating them in cool storage, followed by incineration or sterilization and landfilling.