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Question about your practice and disposal of urine cups



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Sep 13, 2009 08:54 PM

Question about your practice and disposal of urine cups

by darla09

In your medical clinic how do you dipose of used urine cups?
In the past I emptied the urine in the toilet and placed the used cup in a red bag. I am now working in a new clinic and they dispose of the cup filled with urine in the regular trash ( ugh) I think at the very least the urine should first be disposed of in the toilet.
Is it acceptable to put an empty urine cup in the regular trash?
My review of the OSHA web site states that as long as there is no visible blood the empty urine cup can be placed in the trash.
What are you doing in your clinics?

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5 Comments
No. 1
from rn/writer
Old Sep 13, 2009, 09:40 PM

Default Re: Question about your practice and disposal of urine cups
I work postpartum rather than in a clinic. When we d/c Foley bags, we empty as much of the urine as possible, deflate the balloon, and put the whole shebang into the regular trash.

The cost of trash disposal is determined by weight, so not emptying the cups/bags would increase the charge for no good reason. The rate for biohazard bags is approximately ten times that of the regular trash, so you don't want anything in there that doesn't have to be.

Emptying the cups into the toilet and then tossing them in the regular trash makes the most sense to me.
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No. 2
from Stacy in North Texas
Old Sep 19, 2009, 07:47 AM

Default Re: Question about your practice and disposal of urine cups
I was recently hired in the office of an OB-GYN. The practice there is to empty the urine out of the cup and place the cups in the red bags. Urine dipsticks go in there, too.
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No. 3
from BSN75
Old Sep 19, 2009, 12:01 PM

Default Re: Question about your practice and disposal of urine cups
I work in Family Practice. We have a "dirty" sink where we dump all urines, then we throw all cups into the regular trash. It would be a big no-no for us to throw them in the bio-hazard bags since they cost so much more money.
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No. 4
from rn/writer
Old Sep 19, 2009, 05:30 PM
Updated Sep 20, 2009 at 12:30 PM by rn/writer

Default Re: Question about your practice and disposal of urine cups
The information below was taken from the OSHA website.

Urine that does not contain visible blood is not regarded, under the standard, as blood or other potentially infectious material (OPIM). Therefore, absent the patient having a medical condition that would lead to blood in the urine, containers used to collect urine would not meet the standard's definition of "regulated waste." Urine containers and pregnancy tests that do not contain visible blood would not be required to be discarded in biohazard-red labeled containers under OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard.
Think about it--we don't throw wet or soiled diapers into biohazard bags unless there are isolation issues involved. "Fresh" urine is sterile. Even when it begins to deteriorate we don't generally regard it as infectious. Using this reasoning, while psychological squeamishness might say otherwise, disposing of empty urine cups in the regular trash is just fine. Requiring disposal into biohazard bags is an expensive and unnecessary measure.

In this time of looking for ways to save money, facilities that have been using biohazard bags for ordinary urine cups or Foley bags might want to reconsider.
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No. 5
from featherzRN
Old Sep 20, 2009, 09:09 AM

Default Re: Question about your practice and disposal of urine cups
I empty the urine out into the toilet - the urine cup goes in the regular trash.
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