Biological Waste
Biological Versus Chemical Waste
Biological waste must be managed separately from chemical waste. A common example of chemical waste that is often mistaken for biological waste is agarose gel contaminated with ethidium bromide or heavy metals such as arsenic or chromium. This type of material must always be managed as chemical waste.
When both chemical and biological waste are present, the biological agents should be treated first. After the biological agents have been deactivated by autoclave or chemical disinfection, submit the remaining chemical waste through the Environmental Health and Safety Assistant (EHSA) system. For details about disposal procedures and pickup requests, visit the Hazardous Waste Disposal page.
Biological Waste Types
Disposal and Pickup Procedures
- Determine whether the biological waste is Category 1 or Category 2.
- Category 1 biological waste includes any human-derived biological or substance known, assumed or suspected of being infectious to humans, plants or animals before treatment that may cause harm to the general public if released into the environment. Category 1 biological waste also includes any material contaminated with the aforementioned infectious substances and all items containing or contaminated with human blood or fluids. All Category 1 biological waste must be treated by autoclave or with an appropriate chemical disinfecting agent such as bleach prior to pickup.
- Category 2 biological waste, also known as “look-alike waste”, is non-infectious and includes material such as animal tissue, fluids, cell cultures and Petri dishes not fitting the Category 1 description. Category 2 waste does not require treatment.
- All solid biological waste, including sharps containers, must be placed into a cardboard box provided by EHS. The box should be taped shut once it is full. Do not overfill the box; the box flaps should easily fold down onto the top of the box (See pictures below).
- Once you are ready to have waste removed from your laboratory, complete an online waste pickup request through the Environmental Health and Safety Assistant (EHSA) system. Pickup usually occurs on the next working day.
- Once you have submitted the waste, place a green “Approved” sticker on the box(s) and write the pickup request number on the stickers. Additional stickers can be requested through the EHSA system.
- An EHS technician will come to your lab and remove the waste. The technician will leave behind the same number of boxes that were removed from the lab. It is the responsibility of the lab personnel to construct each new box.
- Once the waste is picked up from campus locations, it is transported back to Purdue’s Laboratory Materials Storage Building where it is consolidated into a 40 cubic yard roll off. A waste vendor routinely picks up this roll off and transports it to a nearby Subtitle D non-hazardous waste landfill. The landfill requires that all waste be non-infectious, free of EPA regulated chemical waste and contain no liquids.
Animal Carcass Disposal Procedures
EHS does not pick up animal carcasses. However, they can be taken to Purdue’s Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) for incineration.
- Collect frozen carcasses, tissues, etc. in cardboard boxes. ADDL’s incinerator will not accept any chemicals or inorganic material, such as gloves, bandages, or plastic (syringes, bags), etc. However, if the outside of the cardboard box is wet it can be placed in a garbage bag.
- Take your boxes to ADDL anytime Thursday or by noon on Friday. ADDL is located at 406 S. University St., West Lafayette, IN 47906.
- Go to the front desk and fill out a disposal form. An account number and faculty name is necessary as there is a charge for this service.
- The charge depends on what is being incinerated. If it is over 50 lbs., the charge will be per animal; otherwise the charge is applied on a volume basis.
- Once the form is complete, go to the back dock and drop off the boxes there. The staff should be able to assist as needed.
Contact
If you have any additional questions, email hazwaste@purdue.edu.
Definitions
- Biohazardous agent refers to an agent that is biological in nature, capable of self-replication and has the capacity to produce deleterious effects upon biological organisms. Biohazardous agents include, but are not limited to, bacteria, fungi, viruses, rickettsiae, chlamydia, prion, parasites, recombinant products, allergens, cultured human and animal cells and the potentially biohazardous agents these cells may contain, infected clinical specimens, tissue from experimental animals, plant viruses, bacteria and fungi, toxins and other biohazardous agents as defined by state and federal regulations.
- Biological waste is any material that contains or has been contaminated by a biohazardous agent. Biological waste includes, but is not limited to, petri dishes, surgical wraps, culture tubes, syringes, needles, blood vials, absorbent material, personal protective equipment and pipette tips.
- Sharps are items that are capable of puncturing, cutting or abrading the skin. Sharps include, but are not limited to, glass and plastic pipettes, broken glass, test tubes, razor blades, syringes and needles. See the Sharps and Infectious Waste: Handling and Disposal Guidelines (pdf) for more details.