Waste Disposal Requirements
revAug2014
Waste disposal procedures are required by the
Occupational Health and Safety
Administration (OSHA).
We must follow these disposal procedures to
remain in compliance.
All students are expected to know and follow
the following waste disposal procedures.
Animal Tissues
All animal tissues will be
placed in clear plastic
bags. Whenever possible
keep the different
samples separate.
(E.g. cow eyes in one bag, pig
kidneys in another. )
Broken Glass
Lab Glass waste will go into
the blue hard plastic
buckets for recycling. Any
glass that is contaminated
with bacteria must go into
the sharps containers.
Chemical contamination
will be dealt with on a case
by case basis.
(If unsure, bag or box glass separately
to be dealt with later.)
Biohazard Waste
This waste stream is
unchanged except for the
barring of animal tissues.
REMINDER: these red bags
are for non “sharp”
biologically contaminated
wastes: plates, gloves, soft
transfer pipets. Nothing
that would poke through
the red bags.
Biohazard Waste
These hard plastic sealable
buckets are for SHARP
biological wastes that would
poke through the plastic
bags.
Sharp objects such as scalpel
blades, needles, broken glass
or pipette tips contaminated
with bacteria, etc.
Animal Tissues
YES:
- Dissected materials (preserved)
- String used to tie down
dissection specimen
No:
- Dissection tools
- Paper towels from clean up,
as these can go in the regular
trash.
Broken Glass
YES:
- Broken glass.
- Used Slides (no bacteria).
No:
- Glass Tubes with
microbiology media inside.
- Glass that is contaminated
with microbes or with
hazardous chemicals.
Biohazard Waste
YES:
- Microbiology plates (plastic)
- Plastic loops, micro
centrifuge tubes.
No:
- Glass of any kind
- Objects that would likely
poke through the bags
- Preserved specimens from
dissections.
Biohazard Waste
YES:
- Metal and glass objects
- Pipet tips used with
bacterial cultures
No:
- Paper towels, gloves or
other bulky soft items.