Natural Sciences Department
School of Integrated Studies
Klump Academic Center, Rm. 102 · (570) 327-4521
Examples of Infectious Waste
Agar - All agar plates with any microbial growth should be autoclaved, allowed to cool and resolidify, and then be disposed of in the white barrels.
Liquids - All tissue culture media and broth cultures should be autoclaved and poured down the drain when cool. Alternatively, sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) may be used. A sufficient amount of bleach should be added to bring the final concentration to 10% of the total volume (i.e., 10 mls bleach to 100 mls aqueous waste). The mixture is then incubated at room temperature for 1 hour and then may be poured down the drain.
Solids - Other laboratory waste such as plastic and glass pipettes, petri dishes (both plastic and glass), multiwell plates, tissue culture flasks, cuvettes, gloves and pipette tips should be collected in a biohazard bag, autoclaved, and placed into the white infectious waste barrels.
All infectious waste must be contained in a biohazard bag before being placed into the infectious waste barrels. Loose items will not be accepted!
Sharps - ALL sharps (i.e., hypodermic needles, syringes, razor and scalpel blades) should be disposed of in a puncture-resistant sharps container. In addition to these items, all pasteur pipettes, broken glass and microscope slides which have been in contact with viable infectious materials should be disposed of in a sharps container, which should be autoclaved before disposal.
Gels - Polyacrylamide and agarose gels, including those stained with ethidium bromide should be placed into biohazard bags and put directly into the infectious waste barrel. They need not be autoclaved.