​​Biological Waste Disposal

​Laboratories performing biological procedures and experiments may generate multiple types of wastes, including both chemical and biological wastes. Guidelines provided in the UWSP Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP) should be used for handling chemical wastes. Prior to disposing of biological materials, a thorough risk assessment of the wastes should be performed.

Resources available to aid with this risk assessment include the UWSP Biosafety Manual, the UWSP Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the NIH Guidelines for or Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH Guidelines), and the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL).

All documents are available from the Institutional Biosafety Committee.​

Biological wastes can be divided into the general waste streams described below. No list can foresee and encompass every possible waste material generated in a lab; please use your best judgment if waste material is not specifically described in this document or contact the Institutional Biosafety Committee or the campus Biosafety Officer ​for assistance.​
​

Dave Szpunar

Biosafety Officer

 Chemistry and Biology Building
​Room 406

715-346-4154 (Office)

715-310-1945 (Cell)

 
dszpunar@uwsp.edu​


​​#1 Non-Hazardous, Non-Infectious, and Non-Medical Sharps

Non-hazardous, non-infectious, and non-medical sharps (e.g., broken or unbroken uncontaminated materials, such as glass containers or slides, serological pipets, micropipette tips, etc.) should be placed in a designated box made of cardboard, plastic, or other rigid material and taped up when full for disposal into a dumpster. The box is a requirement to protect custodial staff or anyone else handling these items on their way to the dumpster. Any materials that have contained or contacted infectious or biohazardous materials (see #3 below) must be decontaminated before disposal into regular trash; once properly decontaminated (see below), those items are no longer hazardous. Contaminated and uncontaminated non-medical sharps should not be mixed.

​#2 Medical Sharps


Medical sharps (e.g., needles, syringes, razor blades, etc.) must be put into a rigid, leakproof, sharps container for disposal via a medical waste contractor (e.g., Veolia, Stericycle, or other). Repurposed containers such as bleach bottles, Tupperware, etc. are not acceptable for medical sharp containment. Medical sharps include unused sharps and sharps that have contacted non-hazardous materials. For example, needles/syringes used to transfer sterile water are considered medical sharps, as well as unused needles.​

​#3 Infectious or Biohardous Materials


Infectious or biohazardous materials must be placed in a bag labeled with the universal biohazard symbol and EITHER autoclaved and disposed of as regular trash (the biohazard symbol must be defaced prior to entering the regular waste stream) OR picked up as is by a medical waste contractor. 

Bags containing infectious or biohazardous materials must be removed from use in the lab when they are three-quarters full or less. If any items described in #1 above contact infectious or biohazardous materials described in this section, the hard-sided containers used to collect those contaminated materials must be properly decontaminated prior to placement into the regular trash. Infectious or biohazardous materials include but are not limited to:

  • Human tissues
  • Human blood or other bodily fluids (pourable, drip-able, squeezable amounts)
  • Infectious animal parts, tissues, and fluids that contain risk group 2 (RG-2) infectious agents
  • Clinical microbial cultures and other clinical samples
  • Samples or cultures of any RG-2 agents (microbes, toxins, etc.) capable of causing human disease
  • Materials or reagents that have contacted RG-2 agents
  • Genetically modified cell lines, microbes, animals, or plants
  • Microbial cultures or tissues thought to contain agents that pose a threat to animals or plants (USDA-regulated agents)
  • General microbiological lab culture waste including live cultures of microbes even if they are not considered infectious agents (e.g., RG-1 microbes), which includes unused but contaminated solid microbiological media.​

​#4 Animal Tissues from Dissection or Necropsy


Animal tissues from dissection or necropsy that do not knowingly harbor infectious or biohazardous materials as described under the Infectious or Biohazardous Materials section of this page are not required to be decontaminated prior to disposal. Proper disposal of the material, however, may require incineration based on the following guidelines. Material that does not meet these guidelines may be disposed of with regular trash.

Up to 15 pounds of animal tissue may be disposed of into a single dumpster. Tissues must be double-bagged in 4-mil bags with each bag tied. Please work with building managers to ensure there are no more than 15 pounds of animal tissue in any dumpster at any given time. Tissue may be temporarily stored in a freezer if the 15 pounds per dumpster limit will be exceeded by the addition of more tissue.

  1. Place tissue into a 4-mil bag.
  2. Tie bag.
  3. Place tied bag containing tissue into the second 4-mil bag.
  4. Tie the second bag and place it in the dumpster.

Any tissue amounts greater than 15 pounds must be frozen and transferred to an animal waste contractor for disposal.


Disposal of preserved specimens:

Formalin-preserved specimens
    • Consult chemical hygiene officer for best disposal practices.
Alcohol-preserved specimens (or other “environmentally friendly” preservatives).
    • Dry tissues in a fume hood.
    • Autoclave tissues only if infectious agents are suspected to be present.
    • Double bag tissues and place in the dumpster as described above if 15 pounds or less.
    • Freeze tissues and transfer to the animal waste contractor if more than 15 pounds.​

​​#5 Regular Trash

Regular trash includes all standard wastes that are not covered in #1-4 above. 

This includes materials that do not contain infectious agents or sharps material, paper towels used for drying hands or decontaminating benchtops, packaging materials, plastics containing residual chemicals (bottles, centrifuge tubes, etc.), unused solid microbiological media containing no growth, and other materials that do not fall within the categories described above. 

Materials containing liquids (other than residual amounts) should not be placed into the regular trash. Any pourable, drip-able, or squeezable volumes of liquid should be disposed of down the drain if it is a non-halogenated chemical or transferred to a proper waste container if it is a halogenated chemical.​​

​#6 Decontamination Protocols

  1. ​Any faculty, staff, or student that will use the autoclave for the purpose of preparing sterile materials or waste decontamination must be instructed on the proper use of the autoclave by the building manager or personnel designated by the building manager.

  2. Any infectious or potentially infectious material generated must be sterilized in an autoclave prior to disposal into dumpsters.

  3. Autoclaves should be maintained in good working order by building managers.

    • ​Building managers or personnel designated by a building manager should ensure autoclaves are reaching appropriate temperatures WEEKLY by using a biological test (e.g., ProSpore, B/T Sure, etc.) with appropriate controls (following manufacturer’s protocol).

    • If biological tests return positive results, the autoclave will be taken offline until proper functionality is restored.

    • The building manger or designated personnel will keep a record of biological test results.

  4. Chemical (e.g., autoclave tape) and mechanical (e.g., autoclave gauges) verificati​ons of autoclave function are recommended for each sterilization cycle but are not acceptable substitutes for weekly spore tests.

  5. Any waste materials known or suspected to contain RG-2 or higher agents must include a spore test during each sterilization cycle (following manufacturer’s protocol).

    • A successful weekly spore test is not a substitute for this requirement.

    • Use of autoclave tape or other chemical or mechanical observation of temperature is not a substitute for this requirement.

    • ​If a spore test result is positive following attempted sterilization of RG-2 materials, the waste must be re-sterilized including another spore test and with a longer sterilization time. The sterilization must be repeated until spore tests return negative results.​