Michigan鈥檚 medical waste law has been updated to provide greater flexibility to medical facilities managing sharps.聽 Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Senate Bill 482 on July 23rd, amening the Medical Waste Regulatory Act.聽 The amended law took immediate effect.聽The revisions to the law apply only to sharps containers.
Sharps include items like needles, scalpels, syringes and lancets.聽 The revisions allow sharps containers to be accumulated for up to 18 months from the date the first sharp is placed into the container before disposal is required if the container is no more than 75% full.聽 Previously, sharps containers had to be disposed after 90-days regardless of how full they were. The law change will cut overall disposal costs for many regulated medical facilities and reduce the volume of plastic sharps containers that go to Michigan landfills.
Medical facilities should update their medical waste management plans and waste disposal contracts as soon as possible to reflect this change but can begin implementing this change immediately.