Medical Waste Disposal in Thornton, CO

Clean Waste Medical coordinates compliant medical waste pickup for healthcare facilities in Thornton, Colorado: regulated medical waste, sharps, pharmaceutical and specialty streams, on a schedule that matches what you generate.

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Medical waste rules in Thornton, CO

Colorado regulates medical waste through the Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) under Section 13 of the Solid Waste Regulations, 6 CCR 1007-2, Part 1 (materials referenced as of November 16, 2021). Generators do not register, but each must keep a written medical waste management plan and stay inside the accumulation limits that keep it out of the permit system.

  • Scope (Section 13.1): every non-household generator, transporter and treatment, storage or disposal facility handling non-hazardous medical waste, a term that covers infectious waste, trace chemotherapy waste and waste pharmaceuticals. Hazardous waste pharmaceuticals follow 6 CCR 1007-3 instead, and controlled substances follow US DEA rules (Section 13.9.3).
  • Management plan (Section 13.4): each facility names an employee responsible for the plan, which identifies the types of medical waste and where they are generated, describes how each is identified, segregated, packaged, stored, treated, transported and disposed of, includes a spill contingency plan and the training given to employees, is kept on site for the regulator, the transporter and the disposal facility, and is updated whenever handling changes.
  • Accumulation limits (Section 13.3.1 A): a generator storing its own waste needs no Certificate of Designation if putrescible medical waste, packaged to US DOT standards (49 CFR 173.196 or 173.197), is held for no more than 30 calendar days unrefrigerated or 90 days refrigerated at 45°F or below or frozen, and non-putrescible waste such as sharps containers, waste pharmaceutical containers and trace chemotherapy waste is held no more than 90 days in closed, secured containers. Exceeding those limits turns the practice into a storage facility that needs a certificate.
  • General provisions (Section 13.2): no nuisance conditions; waste that causes them is refrigerated, frozen, treated or disposed of at once; no compaction of infectious waste before treatment; all records kept on site for three years in a retrievable form.
  • Treatment (Section 13.6): thermal, chemical, irradiation or other approved methods that achieve at least a 4 log reduction of Bacillus spores and 6 log of Mycobacterium; encapsulation, solidification or compaction alone are not treatment. Trace chemotherapy waste and waste pharmaceuticals are incinerated, encapsulated or stabilised, or sent to a reverse distributor.
  • Transport and disposal (Sections 13.9, 13.10): untreated medical waste goes only to an approved commercial storage, treatment or disposal facility; Colorado does not license medical waste transporters, and shipments follow the US DOT rules. Spills in transit are reported to CDPHE within 24 hours with a written report in 15 days. Treated infectious waste may go to a landfill or, for liquids, a secondary-treatment sewer with the utility's approval, provided it is identified as treated. Recognisable human anatomical remains are interred, cremated or incinerated.

Source: CDPHE, 6 CCR 1007-2, Part 1, Section 13, Medical Waste (Colorado Solid Waste Regulations).

Reviewed September 2026.

General information, not legal advice. Requirements change; we confirm what applies to your facility during onboarding.Colorado overviewAll states

Scheduling options in Thornton

  1. Scheduled route pickupWeekly, every other week, monthly or quarterly, set from what your Thornton facility actually generates and adjusted as volume changes.
  2. On-call pickupFor low-volume sites that fill a container every few months. You call when a container is ready and we schedule the collection.
  3. Multi-location programsOne point of contact for groups with several Thornton area sites, with pickup schedules, billing and documentation organized by location.

Services available in Thornton

  1. Regulated medical waste pickupScheduled or on-call pickup of regulated medical waste, also called biohazard or red bag waste, from healthcare facilities: compliant containers, permitted transport and a manifest for every collection.Red bag, cardboard box
  2. Sharps disposalSharps container supply, exchange and disposal for practices of every size, from a single dental office to a hospital network.Red sharps container
  3. Pharmaceutical waste disposalCompliant collection and disposal of expired, unused and partially used non-hazardous pharmaceuticals, with the right stream for each drug.Blue container
  4. Trace chemo waste disposalYellow-container collection for trace chemotherapy waste from oncology, infusion and specialty practices.Yellow container
  5. RCRA hazardous waste disposalBlack-container programs for RCRA-listed and characteristic hazardous pharmaceutical waste, with generator-status guidance and cradle-to-grave documentation.Black container
  6. Pathological waste disposalDedicated, labeled collection for tissues, organs and surgical specimens from surgery centers, labs, dermatology practices and veterinary clinics.Red bag, pathology label

Facilities we serve in Thornton

All facility types

Thornton service questions

How quickly can service start in Thornton?

After we review your facility details, operations confirms a route and start date before anything is promised. Timing depends on your address, waste streams and containers, so we give you an estimate once we have reviewed them.

Which rules apply to medical waste in Thornton?

Colorado sets the state requirements for segregation, storage time, transporter permits and treatment; OSHA, DOT and EPA rules apply on top. The Colorado summary above covers the points that most affect small and mid-size generators, and we confirm what applies to your facility during onboarding.

Do you handle multiple Thornton locations under one account?

Yes. Multi-location groups get one point of contact, with pickup schedules, billing and documentation organized by location.

What documentation do we receive?

A manifest or tracking document for every pickup, plus certificates of treatment where applicable, so your compliance file stays complete.

Medical waste pickup in Thornton, CO

Tell us your address, waste streams and current pickup schedule. We reply with a clear quote.

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