Laboratory Waste
IN GENERAL
- No waste in chemical, liquid, solid or solution form should be poured down the drains, with the exception of acids and bases in a diluted aqueous solution.
- Chemical waste (solids or liquid) does not include radioactive or biological materials which are subject to independent collection and treatment.
Depending on the type of waste, the instructions for the elimination are:
COLLECTION OF BIOLOGICAL WASTE
- After use (micro-organism culture or contact with micro-organisms), the material and its contents should be decontaminated prior to any other procedure (washing) in order to be re-used or eliminated (disposable material).
- Decontamination may be carried out via sterilisation by humid heat (30 min at 120°C) or via immersion in a disinfectant solution (cuvettes, pipette tips,...). After decontamination, disposable material should be treated as normal rubbish.
SOLID CHEMICAL WASTE
- Solid chemical waste is all the products of, or mixtures of, solid chemical products (deposits from reactions or extractions, activated charcoal, supports for chromatographic columns, dry gels, etc.) or handling materials contaminated with chemical substances (gloves, filters, paper used for cleaning, aluminium foil, plastic or glass pipette tips, glass laboratory material, fluorescent bulbs, etc.).
- Sharp residues as needles and scalpel blades should be placed into plastic containers with lid. This containers should be correctly labelled (lab and phone no.), decontaminated if necessary and delivered to Maintenance to be discarded.
- Pasteur pipettes should also be placed into plastic boxes, decontaminated if necessary and discarded as glass waste.
- Solid chemical waste should be collected in each laboratory in plastic containers (small barrels) with a wide mouth available at the commissary’s warehouse.
- Solid waste to be thrown away should be dry or covered in impermeable material.
- Waste is collected at the laboratory in appropriate recipients and identified. Waste should not be allowed to accumulate in large quantities.
- Once full, these recipients are emptied into communal containers, which are larger and suitable for removal by specialist companies licensed for this purpose.
LIQUID CHEMICAL WASTE
- Liquid chemical waste (solvents from distillations or evaporations, mother liquors from crystallisations, washing solvents, etc.) should be collected in each laboratory in plastic recipients with a narrow mouth (5 litres) available at the commissary’s warehouse.
- Halogen liquid waste (chloride, bromides and iodides, in organic, liquid and/or solution form) and non-halogen liquids (solvents, oils, paraffins, etc.) should be collected separately since the cost of treating halogen solvents is 5 (five) times the cost of treating non-halogen solvents.
- Halogen substances (dichloromethane, chloroform, etc.) should be poured into the recipient for halogen solvents. As an example, a phenol solution in chloroform is considered halogen waste.
- Inorganic solid and/or insoluble halides shall be treated as solid waste.
- Acids or bases in an aqueous solution which should be poured down the drain after being greatly diluted and swilled down using plenty of running water.
- Ethidium bromide can be removed from solution using special activated charcoal bags (EtBr Green BagTM Disposal Kit from MP Biomedicals). After EtBr absorption, the bag can be discarded as solid chemical waste to be incenerated.
- The aforementioned materials should be removed by those members of the respective laboratories under the guidance and with the prior knowledge of the person responsible of collecting and storing the liquid and solid waste of the ITQB, Mr. Henrique Campas Nunes (Maintenance, Ext.:1125/6). The waste can be delivered to the storage room every Wednesday, between 14:30 -15:00
RADIOACTIVE WASTE
- Users must take into account the safety rules set out in the ITQB’s Manual containing the standards for the use of radioisotopes.
- Waste is collected at the laboratory in appropriate recipients and identified. It Waste should not be allowed to accumulate in large quantities.
- Once full, these recipients are emptied into communal containers, which are larger and suitable for removal by specialist companies licensed for this purpose.
- If you have some question regarding this issue please contact our Radioisotopes Users Manager, Drª Cecília Arraiano (Ext.: 1547).
- The aforementioned materials should be removed by those members of the respective laboratories under the guidance and with the prior knowledge of the person in charge of collecting solid waste, Mr. Henrique Campas Nunes (Maintenance, Ext.:1125/6).
Classification of solid waste
Group I waste: waste comparable to urban waste
Description: paper
Packaging: sealed plastic bag or another bag especially for collection and subsequent recycling.
Destination: Council containers
Group II waste: non-dangerous laboratory waste (comparable to urban waste).
Description: paper resulting from the operation of the laboratory, paper for drying hands. Common packages and envelopes made of paper, cardboard, plastic and other empty glass or plastic packages for products for common or laboratory use, with the exception of those included in groups III and IV.
Packaging: sealed plastic bag.
Destination: Council containers
Group III waste: laboratory waste posing a biological risk (waste which is contaminated or suspected of biological contamination).
Description: disposable material used during the course of the analytical process. Biological products analysed;
glass or plastic containers of biological products – jars, tubes, boxes, swabs and liquids, culture mediums;
material for cleaning and disinfecting contaminated surfaces;
protective material used in handling products posing a biological risk during the course of the analytical process (gloves, masks);
protective material used in the collection of waste posing a biological risk
Packaging: special autoclave bag, resistant at 140° C. Covered metal recipients.
Treatment: autoclaving at 121° C during 40 minutes. Following treatment, waste is comparable to urban waste. It is placed in sealed black bags.
Destination: Council containers
Group IV waste: specific waste whose elimination is compulsory
Description: cutting and perforating materials (needles, scalpels and catheters) chemical and drug products (antibiotics) used in analytical processing or rejected (out-of-date leftovers); products and material used in molecular biology techniques (PCR, DNA probes); protective material used in handling waste encompassed in this group; cytostatic agents and all material used in the handling thereof; animal corpses (inoculated rats and rabbits); anatomical parts (placentas)
Packaging: resistant plastic bags or non-perforable rigid containers.
Destination: placing of this waste in a place intended for this purpose, for subsequent transport and elimination by a specialist firm (incineration).
Labelling waste
All waste packaged for elimination should be duly identified, and a label must be used (available from Maintenance, c/o Mr. Henriques Campas Nunes) which should be affixed to the package.
