It depends on the type of waste.
The restricted area of the pharmacy has a radioactive waste breakdown room that contains a few large lead-shielded barrels. Bags and ammo cans that return from the customers are brought in each day and broken down. Syringes are segregated into different barrels according to the isotope...short-lived ones (i.e. Tc-99m) in one barrel, longer-lived ones (i.e. Ga-67, In-111, Tl-201) in another, etc.
Once the barrel is full it's sealed and stored in the pharmacy for at least ten half-lives...and then once it has reached background levels (which you determine by using a survey meter), it can be disposed as "regulated medical waste". This is biohazardous material (since the needles have been injected into patients) that we send off to Stericycle.
Other non-biohazardous trash that we produce in the pharmacy during compounding (i.e. gloves, pads) can be thrown in the regular trash as long as it isn't hot.
The generators which we use to obtain Tc-99m are good for 14 days. Lantheus generators are sent to us with lead shielding, and once we buy them, they're ours (i.e. we have to break them down, and store the Mo-99 cores for a few years). Covidien generators are sent out with depleted Uranium shielding (and therefore can ride in passenger aircraft). They can't be broken down, and Covidien provides a return box to send the generator back to them.
The pharmacy produces tons and tons of lead waste too from all the material we receive...which we sell by the pound each month to be recycled.
Another big thing...all radioactive symbols/signs on packaging must be obliterated prior to throwing it out in the trash. We can get audited/fined big time if someone finds that in a dumpster.
The restricted area of the pharmacy has a radioactive waste breakdown room that contains a few large lead-shielded barrels. Bags and ammo cans that return from the customers are brought in each day and broken down. Syringes are segregated into different barrels according to the isotope...short-lived ones (i.e. Tc-99m) in one barrel, longer-lived ones (i.e. Ga-67, In-111, Tl-201) in another, etc.
Once the barrel is full it's sealed and stored in the pharmacy for at least ten half-lives...and then once it has reached background levels (which you determine by using a survey meter), it can be disposed as "regulated medical waste". This is biohazardous material (since the needles have been injected into patients) that we send off to Stericycle.
Other non-biohazardous trash that we produce in the pharmacy during compounding (i.e. gloves, pads) can be thrown in the regular trash as long as it isn't hot.
The generators which we use to obtain Tc-99m are good for 14 days. Lantheus generators are sent to us with lead shielding, and once we buy them, they're ours (i.e. we have to break them down, and store the Mo-99 cores for a few years). Covidien generators are sent out with depleted Uranium shielding (and therefore can ride in passenger aircraft). They can't be broken down, and Covidien provides a return box to send the generator back to them.
The pharmacy produces tons and tons of lead waste too from all the material we receive...which we sell by the pound each month to be recycled.
Another big thing...all radioactive symbols/signs on packaging must be obliterated prior to throwing it out in the trash. We can get audited/fined big time if someone finds that in a dumpster.
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