'Ask Lab Tech Guy' is a regular feature in the e-newsletter from Mourne Training Services and is posted on the MTS blog. Find out more on the MTS website at http://www.mournetrainingservices.co.uk/Blog.html

1. ©2009 Mourne Training Services

2. ©2009 Mourne Training Services
Dear Lab Tech Guy,
In my lab we use plastic syringes to filter samples
before analysing by HPLC. This results in a large
number of syringes going to waste. Our safety
procedure says that these syringes have to be
placed into the sharps bin. Is this right? The bin
fills up very quickly and needs to be emptied
regularly even though there are never any sharps
in it!
Yours,
Amy
(Kent, England)

3. Dear Amy, ©2009 Mourne Training Services
When we want to get rid of those things that are no
longer of use then we need to consider where they
are going to end up. In a modern laboratory
equipped with the very latest technology, with a
procedure in place for every movement, and a
labelled bin for every type of waste, it is easy to
forget that the purpose of sorting waste (not unlike
sorting household waste) is to simplify the final
disposal.
If you consider the disposal of a plastic syringe used
only for filtering a HPLC sample and thus without a
needle, then the hazardous nature of the syringe
depends only on the nature of the sample being
filtered. If this sample is not hazardous then in
theory the syringes may be disposed of with normal
waste.

4. ©2009 Mourne Training Services
However, the problem with syringes is that they are commonly used with a
needle for some type of clinical application and thus are associated with this
use. A plastic syringe found in a normal waste stream may cause alarm
during the treatment since operators can not know whether the syringe was
used for a clinical purpose, also the presence of the syringe could indicate the
potential presence of a dangerous needle. This is why we often treat syringes
as if they were attached to needles and thus they are disposed of as if they
are sharps.
If the sample you are using the plastic syringe to filter is itself hazardous then
it needs to be disposed of appropriately. This is usually achieved by
incineration. Since the contents of contaminated sharps bins are also
incinerated, then disposing of the syringe in the sharps bin ensures that it
ends up in the correct place.

5. Guidelines for disposal of ©2009 Mourne Training Services
sharps may be interpreted
slightly differently by different
laboratories. The major
consideration is what happens
to the waste when it leaves the
laboratory. Waste disposal
procedures need to be fully
understood by those following
them to achieve best
compliance and make sure that
they are not just talking rubbish.
Yours wastefully,

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©2009 Mourne Training Services