Laboratory waste MUST always be handled/treated with care. Hazardous materials and solutions must be disposed of using specific procedures; sharp items must be kept in a secured container. Several types of containers are available for disposing of dangerous products. Depending of the danger linked to handling of the waste, you will have to choose between:
Small, yellow containers: these are used to confine small, sharp/pointed objects made of metal or glass (cannulas, scalpel, razor blades, broken glass, and glass objects of limited size, such as coverslips and slides) as well as waste from infusion/injection like syringes, needles, etc.
Large, yellow containers: these are made for biological waste, gels (agarose or acrylamide-gels), gloves, paper, empty chemical boxes and flasks. These containers may also be used to dispose of larger glass items or pieces (broken glass, Pasteur pipettes, empty bottles and glass vials that used to contains chemicals).
Large, red containers: these are used for disposing of chemical waste such as corrosive acids and bases, heavy metals, organic solvents with and without halogen, etc. Such containers are taken care of by lab managers and technicians. Solutions stored in flasks which may also be placed in these red containers.
Blue/white containers: these are used to store waste solutions. Blue containers are for solutions with halogens, while white containers are for solutions without halogens. Note that these containers should not be filled more than 3/4 full. Contact your lab manager or technician for help.
Yellow containers are collected by BIR for incineration. Other containers are also collected by BIR which takes care of special waste treatment (neutralization, etc.)
Contact persons
Three technicians at BIO are responsible for waste disposal:
- Solveig Thorkildsen for the A-building at Biologen (T53A - Solveig.Thorkildsen@uib.no)
- Hilde Stabell for the B-building at Biologen (T53B – Hilde.Stabell@uib.no )
- Lindsey Moore and Erwan Lagadec (T55 - T55Avfallsansvarlig@uib.no).
Contact them if you have doubts or need information/help.