Disposal of biological waste from containment level 2 laboratories in the WIMM This document describes how biological waste from containment level 2 laboratories in the WIMM is managed. Written by Malcolm Shepherd WIMM Facilities Manager Kathryn Robson WIMM Safety Officer September 2011 Revised January 2013 Revised October 2013 Revised October 2014 Revised June 2016 Page 1 of 6 WIMM E007_5 June 2016
1. The grey box route Background All solid biological waste leaving the WIMM must be autoclaved or incinerated. Autoclaving is carried out using the grey box route. Tissue culture suites are provided with larger grey boxes than the containment level 2 laboratories. The grey boxes are normally collected from the tissue culture suites between 7am and 9am Monday to Friday by the autoclave staff. They have been instructed only to remove boxes that comply. The grey boxes will be collected later in the day from the laboratories. If there is a problem with the autoclaves or there is a staff shortage the tissue culture suites will take priority. In the event of the failure of both discard autoclaves the contingency plan is detailed in WIMM E_042 Contingency plan in the event of loss of discard autoclave capacity in the WIMM. The discard autoclaves were replaced in May 2016. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN WASTE CONTAINING FORMALIN ENTER THE GREY BOX ROUTE. Containment level 2 liquid waste can be treated with Virkon or equivalent and disposed of via the drains. Alternatively it can be autoclaved. 1. Each laboratory is supplied with grey plastic rectangular bins lined with clear plastic autoclave bagfor solid biological waste. 2. If you know that you are cleaning out a fridge/freezer/cold room then ask for extra grey boxes. Do not do this before a Bank Holiday. 3. Do not dispose of glass, syringes, syringe needles or scalpels using the grey box route. 4. You can dispose of media bottles, tissue culture plastics, tissues, disposable gloves etc via the grey box route. 5. Do not dispose of material/containers that can be linked directly to a patient via the grey box route. Tubes of patient s blood must go out via the yellow incinerator bin route. 6. Protein rich liquids will congeal on autoclaving and are best decontaminated with Virkon or equivalent and disposed of via the drains. 7. These grey boxes must be filled such that when the clear plastic liner is folded over the boxes can stack. The boxes will only be removed from a laboratory if they comply. Pipettes must be laid diagonally across the box and must not stick out over the top. If you fill a grey box then you can fold over the plastic liner neatly and place a fresh empty grey box with a liner on top and use that. This way the autoclave staff can tell at a glance which boxes are full. 8. Under no circumstances must hazardous chemicals, flammables etc be disposed of via this route. Examples of inappropriately filled grey boxes Page 2 of 6 WIMM E007_5 June 2016
2. The yellow incinerator ( sharps bin ) bin route Background Each laboratory in the WIMM is supplied with one or more yellow incinerator bins. These have a red handle and red lid. These bins must not contain material that is contaminated with medicinal products and their residues. This means prescription and cytotoxic drugs. If you can order the drug from Sigma, e.g. an antibiotic then anything containing this can be discarded via these particular incinerator bins. These bins must not be confused with Limb bins which are altogether bigger. The Yellow incinerator or Sharps bins are routinely inspected on a Thursday morning. If they are 2/3-3/4 full they are sealed, labelled with a black marker pen with the room number from which they have been taken. If you fill a yellow sharps bin, seal it up and label it with the laboratory number and leave outside the laboratory. Normally this will be removed during the next 24 hours and replaced with an empty one. The incinerator bins are collected from the WIMM by the University Logistics team on a Friday. These yellow bins can be autoclaved if required and as such this is the route needed dispose of broken glass tubes containing blood where records may be missing or incomplete. 1. Each laboratory is supplied with yellow incinerator bins with red lids and handles. 2. These yellow incinerator bins must not be overfilled. Items must not stick out over the top. 3. If you know that you are cleaning out freezers then ask for extra yellow incinerator bins. 4. All syringes, syringe needles or scalpels must be disposed of via the yellow incinerator bin route. 5. All clinical waste must leave the WIMM via the yellow incinerator bin route. All human tissue, including all blood samples, faecal material or tubes that contain patient names must be disposed of via the yellow incinerator bin route. This also includes microscope slides containing patient material. 6. If you need to dispose of frozen tissue please contact the Facilities Manager to arrange a mutually convenient time for disposal such that the tissue is still frozen when it leaves the building. 7. All contaminated glass and glass Pasteur pipettes must also be disposed of by this route. Page 3 of 6 WIMM E007_5 June 2016
Red lidded bin provided in the WIMM Overfull red lidded bin 3. Specialist waste bins Only waste tissue can be discarded in limb bins. Limb bins are not standard issue in the WIMM and if required can be obtained form Dr Graham Ross the Divisional Safety Officer. If you need to use a limb bin you must make special arrangements with Dr Graham Ross for its collection. These bins are not standard issue in the WIMM and therefore we do not have a process in place for their collection and removal. If you need to discard prescription drugs or containers etc that contain traces of prescription drugs then these are discarded in yellow incinerator bins with yellow lids and handles. These are not routinely available in the WIMM. If you need to discard cytotoxic drugs or containers etc that contain traces of cytotoxic drugs then these are discarded in yellow incinerator bins with purple lids and handles. These are not routinely available in the WIMM. They can be obtained from Dr Graham Ross and arrangements must be made with him regarding their collection and disposal. Yellow lidded bin (left) and purple top bin (below) not found in the WIMM Page 4 of 6 WIMM E007_5 June 2016
WIMM E007_5 Disposal of biological waste from CL 2 laboratories Disposal of Cytotoxic / Cytostatic Waste Assemble correctly... snap lid on all round and fill in label details Place on bracket, securely fitted to wall or trolley OR take to point of use in a SHARPSGUARD tray Lock door when contents reach fill line Complete label and tag it Remove container and dispose of according to local policy REMEMBER! Always dispose of sharps at the point of use Cytotoxic/Cytostatic medication supplied by Pharmacy will be identified and labelled. All Cytotoxic/Cytostatic medicinal residues including all sharps or items used to administer this medication must be disposed of into the Purple lidded Cytotoxic bin shown above. Page 5 of 6 WIMM E007_5 June 2016
Document Review Date Reviewer s name Reviewer s signature Comments 14/1/2013 Kathryn Robson Specialist waste section separated from red topped yellow bins 16/10/2014 Kathryn Robson Malcolm Shepherd 30/06/2016 Kathryn Robson Malcolm Shepherd Change of days for yellow bins and more information Link in contingency plan, remind staff about not autoclaving formalin containing material and disposing of frozen rather than thawed tissue Page 6 of 6 WIMM E007_5 June 2016