Department of Biology
Disposal Standards
The following summarises some of the key disposal practices in laboratories. Details of laboratory disposal practices are located on the Waste Disposal section.
- All bio-hazardous materials (liquid or solid) to be inactivated using validated methods (e.g. appropriate disinfectant / autoclave treatment)
- Solid waste:
- Contaminated solid waste must be disposed of in double autoclave bags before autoclave treatment
- Autoclave bags must not be over filled
- Autoclave bags must not be sealed- leave a gap in the neck of the bag for steam penetration of contents during autoclaving
- Autoclave bags should not be used for uncontaminated laboratory waste
- Autoclave bags must not contain any sharps, including cocktail sticks
- Autoclave bags must be labelled with laboratory Group initials
- Autoclave bags must be transported to the central autoclave facility (F0) in robust containers to avoid leakage e.g. leak-proof trolleys
- Think about the safety of others e.g. disposal technicians, cleaning staff! All sharp objects (needles, glass Pasteur pipettes, scalpel blades, etc.) must be placed in special sharps boxes, obtainable from Stores
- Liquid waste:
- Contaminated Liquid waste must either be treated with an appropriate disinfectant & / or autoclaved, before disposal down the sink