Handling waste

NCMM has several categories of waste which can not be mixed.

Waste handled by the cleaners

Ordinary waste in the lab and in the offices.

Waste handled by lab personnel

1. Recycled waste

2. Risk waste

3. Dangerous waste

4. Radioactive waste (only personnel with specific training)

Risk waste

  • 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
  • Biological 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. 11 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 1 GMO, can either be autoclaved or inactivated in 1-2% Virkon or a similar disinfectant overnight before pouring into the sink. At NCMM we prefer autoclaving for 1 hour at 120°. It is reliable and faster due to recycling of  culturing equipment. Cultures of GMO Level-II or bacteria able to make spores must always be autoclaved. Outdated selection plates with antibiotic or other chemicals should be treated as risk waste even without bacteria.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. Discharged big volumes are inactivated in 2-3% Virkon over night before pouring in the sink.

Vectors like  Adeno-, SemLinki Forest- or Lenti Virus used for transfer of genes to other cells require special precautions.

Never start working with a new organism before precautions have been discussed. Risk assessment for work with GMO should consider the characteristic of donor and recipient/host organism. For special biological waste always act according to instructions.

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 HSE officer 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. NCMM is responsible for correct classification and correct containment for 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. Labeling is each lab´s responsibility. In most cases the HSE-coordinator takes care of correctly labeled waste.  

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 to more than 75% of the bottle.

The special waste/ hazardous chemicals, packed and labeled for transportation, are stored in the cooling room in the basement (NCMM) and some in the waste-room with restricted access (In charge: The Innovation Centre). For large amounts of waste/ known chemical mixtures NCMM can order a drum. This concerns specific chemicals which are considered safe to mix and restricted to specific users.

Dangerous waste is not risk-waste, but very small amounts of tips, pipettes and eppendorf- tubes may be evaporated in the hood (like phenol/ chloroform) and  put in closed containers before transfer to the yellow plastic risk-boxes. Do the transfer just before the main container is closed. Polymerized acrylamid-gels can also be put in the yellow risk-boxes.

Radioactive waste

Links UiO

Hazardous waste

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)

Temaveiledning om oppbevaring av farlig stoff

Published Apr. 6, 2016 10:47 AM - Last modified Nov. 15, 2023 10:55 AM