2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 20. Natural Resources › Article 5J. Medical Waste Act › §20-5J-3. Definitions

As used in this article:
(1) "Commercial infectious medical waste facility" means any infectious medical waste management facility at which thirty-five percent or more by weight of the total infectious medical waste stored, treated, or disposed of by said facility in any calendar year is generated off-site.
(2) "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any infectious medical waste into or on any land or water so that such waste, or any constituent thereof, may be emitted into the air, discharged into any waters, including groundwater, or otherwise enter into the environment.
(3) "Generator" means any person, by site location, whose act or process produces medical waste.
(4) "Hospital" means an institution which is primarily engaged in providing to inpatients, by or under the supervision of physicians, diagnostic and therapeutic services for medical diagnosis, treatment and care of injured, disabled or sick persons or services for the rehabilitation of injured, disabled or sick persons. This term also includes psychiatric and tuberculosis hospitals.
(5) "Infectious medical waste" means medical waste identified as capable of producing an infectious disease. Medical waste shall be considered capable of producing an infectious disease if it has been, or is likely to have been, contaminated by an organism likely to be pathogenic to healthy humans, if such organism is not routinely and freely available in the community, and such organism has a significant probability of being present in sufficient quantities and with sufficient virulence to transmit disease. For the purposes of this article, infectious medical waste shall include the following:
(A) Cultures and stocks of microorganisms and biologicals;
(B) Blood and blood products;
(C) Pathological wastes;
(D) Sharps;
(E) Animal carcasses, body parts, bedding and related wastes;
(F) Isolation wastes;
(G) Any residue or contaminated soil, water or other debris resulting from the cleanup of a spill of any infectious medical waste; and
(H) Any waste contaminated by or mixed with infectious medical waste.
(6) "Medical waste" means infectious and noninfectious solid waste generated in the course of the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals, or in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals. Such term does not include low-level radioactive waste, any hazardous waste identified or listed under Subtitle C, or any household waste as defined in the regulations promulgated pursuant to Subtitle C.
(7) "Noncommercial infectious medical waste facility" means any infectious medical waste facility at which less than thirty-five percent by weight of the total infectious medical waste stored, treated or disposed of by said facility in any calendar year is generated off-site.
(8) "Noninfectious medical waste" means any medical waste not capable of producing an infectious disease or infectious medical waste which has been rendered noninfectious. Noninfectious medical waste is considered solid waste for purposes of this code.
(9) "Off-site" means a facility or area for the collection, storage, transfer, processing, treatment or disposal of infectious medical waste that is not on the generator's site, or a facility or area that received infectious medical waste for storage or treatment that has not been generated on-site.
(10) "On-site" means the same or geographically contiguous property which may be divided by a public or private right-of-way, provided the entrance and exit between the properties is at a crossroads intersection, and access is by crossing, as opposed to going along, the right-of-way. Noncontiguous properties owned by the same person but connected by a right-of-way controlled by said person and to which the public does not have access is also considered on-site property. Hospitals with more than one facility located in the same county shall be considered one site.
(11) "Secretary" means the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources or his or her designee.
(12) "Small quantity generator" means any generator of infectious medical waste who generates fifty pounds or less during a one-month period.
(13) "Storage" means the containment of infectious medical waste on a temporary basis. Storage shall not constitute disposal of the waste.
(14) "Subtitle C" means Subtitle C of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, 90 Stat. 2806, as amended.
(15) "Treatment" means any method, technique or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any infectious medical waste so as to render such waste noninfectious.