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Biomedical waste: glassware
During a session an immunisation nurse drops a glass vaccine vial, which breaks. Into which container should the broken glass be placed under the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016?
- A. A white translucent puncture-proof container
- B. A yellow bag
- C. A red bag
- correctD. A puncture-proof, leak-proof blue container
Explanation
Key fact
Blue is for glass and metallic implants; white is for sharps. Broken glass is glassware, not a sharp, even though it can cut.
A puncture-proof, leak-proof blue container. Broken and discarded glassware, including medicine vials and ampoules, is the blue category.
Why
The colour is chosen by the treatment the waste will receive.
Blue waste is disinfected or autoclaved and then sent for recycling.
Glass vials and ampoules recycle well, so they are separated out.
The white container is reserved for sharps - needles, scalpels, blades.
The container must be puncture-proof and leak-proof whichever colour it is.
Where the four categories go
| Container | Contents | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Anatomical, soiled, chemical, expired cytotoxic | Incineration |
| Red | Contaminated recyclable plastic | Autoclave, then recycle |
| White, puncture-proof | Sharps | Autoclave, then shred |
| Blue, puncture-proof | Broken glass, metallic implants | Disinfect, then recycle |
The colour is chosen by the treatment, not by how sharp the object is
Why not the others
- A. A white translucent puncture-proof container — is for sharps - needles and blades. It is the commonest wrong answer here because broken glass is sharp.
- B. A yellow bag — is for waste that must be incinerated. Glass is not incinerated - though liquid chemical waste is, and does go to yellow.
- C. A red bag — takes contaminated recyclable plastic, such as tubing, catheters and syringes without needles.
Remember
Blue for glass, white for sharps. Both puncture-proof, and both easy to confuse.
Go deeper
A vial containing live attenuated vaccine is treated as unused vaccine and disinfected before disposal; an empty vial is straightforward glassware.
Needles are never recapped and go straight into the white container, which is the single most effective step against needlestick injury.
The 2016 rules abolished the black bag and moved chemical and cytotoxic waste into yellow.
Park K. Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 28th ed. (Bhanot, 2025).