“Hospital waste” (or solid waste) refers to all waste, biological or nonbiological, that is discarded and not intended for further use. “Medical waste” refers to materials generated as a result of patient diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals. “Infectious waste” refers to that portion of medical waste that could transmit an infectious disease. Congress and the EPA have used the term “regulated medical waste” rather than “infectious
waste” in the MWTA in deference to the remote possibility of disease transmission.5J1 Thus, “medical waste” is a subset of “hospital waste,” and “regulated medical waste,” which is synonymous with “infectious waste” from a regulatory perspective, is a subset of “medical waste.”