General waste
General and uncontaminated waste present in the lab and in the offices are handled by the Forskningsparken's cleaners.
Waste to be handled by NCMBM staff
2. Biological waste
3. Dangerous waste and hazardous chemical waste
4. Radioactive waste: report to HSE coordinator (not covered here).
Biological waste
- Bacterial and cell culture waste, organic waste such as tissue, blood, and small transgenic animals such as mouse and fish
- Sharp objects and needles
- Contaminated disposable plastic equipment
- Biologically active substances
Put waste into the yellow PP plastic boxes for biological waste. Decontaminated waste is either disposed off into the risk-box or poured out into the sink. Do not overfill the boxes, and close the lid properly. The taps have to be firmly clicked into place to avoid spreading of the content.
Bacterial waste: Contaminated disposable plastic equipment and plates should go into the risk boxes. Bottles/flasks with cultures, or supernatants of Level I GMO, can either be autoclaved or inactivated in 1-2% Virkon or a similar disinfectant overnight before being poured down the sink. At NCMBM, the autoclaving option, for 1 hour at 120°C, is preferred. It is reliable and faster due to recycling of culturing equipment.
Cultures of GMO Level II or of bacteria able to make spores must always be autoclaved. Outdated selection plates with antibiotic or other chemicals should be treated as dangerous waste even without bacteria. GMO waste delivered for autoclaving must not contain volatile, toxic or explosive Chemicals.
Cell culture waste (pipettes, flasks and discarded cultures etc.) is always a potential health and environmentally risk. To dispose of large volumes of liquid, they first need to be inactivated in 2-3% Virkon overnight before being poured down the sink.
Vectors, such as Adeno-, SemLinki Forest- or Lenti-viruses, used to transfer genes to other cells require special precautions. Therefore, you should never start working with a new organism before the procedure (including the disposal of the organisms) has been fully discussed with the relevant person. Risk assessment for work with GMO should consider the characteristic of donor and recipient/host organism.
Dangerous waste and hazardous chemicals
- Flammables
- Toxic waste
- Corrosive waste
- Oxidizing waste
- Carcinogenic/ mutagenic and reproductive damaging (CMR) waste
Use protection according to the hazard. Always read the data sheets before working with and collecting your specific chemical waste. Empty packing for hazardous waste which cannot be rinsed need to be treated the same way.
Contact the HSE coordinator for information and help, before disposing of chemicals!
Most chemicals are disposed of according to specific rules and must be taken care of by professional companies. Most chemicals need to be classified before transport and classified according to the ADR regulation. NCMBM is responsible for the correct classification and the correct containment to be used during transport. Combustible chemicals are treated with special precaution.
The registration and reporting of hazardous waste is done in Avfallsdeklareing.no. This is the Norwegian authority´s waste portal and is our portal for communication with the waste company. They will not take care of unreported waste. Any waste not labeled and classified is very expensive to get rid of. The labeling of waste material is each lab´s responsibility.
To avoid fire and/ or explosion chemical waste must be handled and stored as separated as possible. Remember that many chemicals are not compatible. Many chemicals are toxic, carcinogenic, corrosive etc. and may adversely affect the health and must be taken care of accordingly. Chemicals may also be very toxic and dangerous for the environment.
To make this work as secure and safe as possible it is most important that your chemical waste is properly marked with correct name of the chemical, % of mixture of each chemical (like HPLC waste), date for collecting and person/group responsible for this specific waste. Never fill up the bottles to more than 75% of their capacity.
The special waste/hazardous chemicals, packed and labeled for transportation, are stored in the cooling room in the basement (NCMBM) or in the controlled-access waste room, managed by The Innovation Centre. For large amounts of waste/known chemical mixtures, NCMBM can order a drum. This is only for specific chemicals which are considered safe to mix, and it is restricted to specific users.
Dangerous waste is not risk waste, but very small amounts of tips, pipettes and Eppendorf tubes may be left to evaporate in the hood (like phenol/chloroform) before being put in closed containers for the transfer to the yellow plastic risk boxes; the transfer should be done just before the main container is closed. Polymerized acrylamid gels can also be put in those boxes.
Links UiO
Acts and regulations (in Norwegian)
Avfallsforskriften
FOR 2004-06-01 nr 930
Forskrift om landtransport av farlig gods. ADR/RID forskriften)
2009-04-01-384 (JD-DBS)