Chapter 10.35
Garbage Collection

Sections:

10.35.040 Infectious Waste – Findings.

10.35.050 “Infectious Wastes” Defined.

10.35.060 Application for Infectious Waste Collector License.

10.35.070 Conditions of Infectious Waste Collector License.

10.35.080 Insurance Required.

10.35.040 Infectious Waste – Findings.

A.  Infectious waste is generated from business sources such as hospitals, clinics, medical, surgical and dental offices, nursing homes, veterinarian offices and laboratories.

B.  Infectious waste is also generated from private residential sources through home treatment of diabetes, allergies and other conditions and through illegal drug use. It is impractical for the City to attempt to license potential generators of infectious waste or others who may come in contact with infectious waste prior to consignment for transfer, storage, processing, or disposal.

C.  Generators of infectious waste are required to sterilize, package, or otherwise process infectious waste appropriately within the producing facility so that when the waste enters the solid waste stream, it may be collected as general municipal solid waste without undue hazard.

D.  Some infectious waste generators hire others to perform infectious waste collection service. The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission grants authority to provide such service to qualified applicants.

E.  A municipal infectious waste collector license requirement will enable tracking and control of infectious waste, prevent the spread of disease and protect the public health and safety. Such municipal license is supplemental to and in addition to any requirement imposed by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, the Washington State Health Department, the Spokane County health district, or any other regulatory authority.

[Ord. C30120; Passed: 6/24/1991]

10.35.050 “Infectious Wastes” Defined.

“Infectious wastes” are:

A.  wastes or materials with a potential for entry into the Spokane solid waste stream which include a risk of disease or infection to the public or waste stream handlers;

B.  wastes or materials with potential for entry into the Spokane solid waste stream which consist of:

1.   cultures and stocks of etiologic agents and associated biologicals including, without limitation, specimen cultures, wastes from production of biologicals and sera and discarded live and attenuated vaccines;

2.   laboratory waste which has come into contact with cultures and stocks of etiological agents or blood specimens including, but not limited to, culture dishes, blood specimen tubes, devices used to transfer, inoculate and mix cultures, paper and cloth;

3.   “sharps,” that is, medical and laboratory equipment that might puncture or cut, such as needles, syringes, lancets, scalpel blades, broken or sharp laboratory glassware, including slides, coverslips and Pasteur pipettes;

4.   pathological waste, that is, human tissue and anatomical parts which emanate from surgery, obstetrical procedures, autopsy and the laboratory;

5.   human blood and blood products, including but not limited to serum and plasma, in fluid exceeding fifty milliliters per container;

6.   wastes that have come into contact with human body substances infected with anthrax, smallpox, rabies, plague and viral hemorrhagic fevers, such as Lassa fever and Ebola-Marburg virus disease;

7.   animal carcasses exposed to pathogens in research, their bedding and other waste from such animals;

8.   waste contaminated with the blood of patients undergoing hemodialysis (including home-care treatment), such as tubing, filters, sheets, drapes, towels, gloves, aprons and laboratory coats; and

9.   wastes that have come into contact with human body substances or other sources which may contain pathogenic microbial agents or other biologically active materials in sufficient concentrations that exposure to the waste creates a significant risk of disease, in the judgment of the waste generators infection control staff or committee;

C.  materials designated as such by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission or Spokane County Health District for purposes of defining a regulatory program adopted by either agency for handlers or collection of such material.

[Ord. C30120; Passed: 6/24/1991]

10.35.060 Application for Infectious Waste Collector License.

An applicant for an infectious waste collector license must submit to the director of solid waste management on a prescribed form, a written application containing, in addition to the provisions of SMC chapter 4.04:

A.  a description of the customers to be served,

B.  an estimate of the amounts and types of material to be collected,

C.  the routes to be used from generators to disposal sites,

D.  a description of any treatment or conditioning to be given materials collected,

E.  a description of all equipment and facilities to be used,

F.  a description of the personnel and management system to reflect safety measures to be taken during operations,

G.  a general City business license and statement of arrangements to pay City solid waste utility tax,

H.  payment of the annual infectious waste regulatory license fee provided in SMC 8.02.0229,

I.  certificate(s) of insurance showing insurance coverage as specified in SMC 10.35.080,

J.  proof of a current certificate or authority from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and Spokane County health district, or proof of exemption from regulatory requirements of those agencies for applicant’s activities.

[Ord. C30120; Passed: 6/24/1991]

10.35.070 Conditions of Infectious Waste Collector License.

A.  Licenses are issued for a period of one year for the calendar year of issuance. No proration of a license fee is allowed.

B.  Each infectious waste collector licensee is under a continuing obligation to comply with the following requirements which are conditions of the continued validity of the license:

1.   use only enclosed collection vehicles having rigid, leakproof containment boxes with locking access doors and labeled as required by United States Department of Transportation regulations;

2.   accept only waste in such containers and condition as to avoid potential risk to the public health and safety, such as sharps in puncture-resistant containers;

3.   accept only wastes for which a lawful disposal site is available and to use only lawful handling and disposal processes or sites;

4.   inventory, segregate and package by category at the generation site infectious wastes using the categorization contained in SMC 10.35.050 or as otherwise directed by regulation;

5.   use sturdy and tamper-resistant containers color coded or otherwise conspicuously labeled by category;

6.   maintain current records of amounts of each type of waste carried and customers, and a tracking log of waste from each type of infectious waste generator and to each disposal site;

7.   submit to the director of solid waste management an annual report no later than January 31st of each year for any activities subject to licensing under this chapter conducted during the prior calendar year. The report must list tonnages hauled, per type or category of waste, list of customers and type of customer facilities and waste handling and disposal track after pickup to final disposal;

8.   charge only lawful and reasonable rates, including only W.U.T.C. authorized rates for tariffed services;

9.   keep the director of solid waste management advised of a twenty-four hour telephone number where a managing agent of the licensee can be reached in case of potential public health emergency;

10.  update all information furnished on the application as soon as possible and prior to implementation of any change in operations, whenever possible, but in no event later than ten days of becoming aware of such information;

11.  maintain required insurance in full force and unimpaired;

12.  comply with this chapter, SMC chapter 13.02 and any regulations promulgated thereunder, the Spokane solid waste management plan and any order of the director of solid waste management.

C.  If a licensee intends to dispose of infectious waste at a City-controlled disposal site, then the licensee must suitably sterilize (incinerate, autoclave, or chemically sterilize) or otherwise treat the waste so as to present it for disposal in conformity with the regulations of the health officer and the director of solid waste management.

[Ord. C30120; Passed: 6/24/1991]

10.35.080 Insurance Required.

An applicant for an infectious waste collector license must have, and a licensee must maintain,

A.  automobile bodily injury and property damage liability insurance of at least one million dollars, combined single limit per accident; and

B.  comprehensive or commercial general bodily injury and property damage liability insurance, on the occurrence form, of at least one million dollars, combined single limit per occurrence.

If the general liability insurance is in the commercial form, the policy must include general and products/completed operations aggregates of one million dollars.

[Ord. C30120; Passed: 6/24/1991]