[The federal communicable disease law and refuse disposal from hospitals and medical practices]

Several laws and guidelines on the disposal of waste from hospitals and practice differentiate between diverse types of waste. The LAGA instruction sheet lists five types: type A = hospital waste, type B = medical waste, type C = infectious waste, type D = chemical waste, and type E = human pathological material. Especially the basis of differentiation between medical and infectious waste is the list of notifiable infectious diseases according to section 3 of the Federal Law on Epidemic diseases. Section 10a confines the list to contagious infectious diseases. However, some tropical epidemics and endemic infectious diseases are not taken into account. On the other hand, the list includes a few harmless childhood and other diseases. There is not scientific evidence that wastes of this kind have led to infections in the community. Therefore, the Federal Law on Epidemic Diseases does not seem to be a suitable basis for the differentiation between medical and regulated medical wastes.