Australia's Science Forum

[quote]Hi All
Can anyone tell me how can i dispose of the agar plates. I have no stove to place the pressurer cooker on and i dont know if a ht plate can be used instead of a stove?
I'm open for ideas

Hi Celia

Sure, you can use the hotplate.
Seal the agar plates in an oven bag. Put the oven bag in the pressure cooker and put it on the hotplate. Get it up to pressure and give it about 20 minutes. This will sterilize the plates. Take the oven bag out of the pressure cooker (don't open it), wrap securely in newspaper and dispose of in the garbage.

Carol

Hi,
I am in the process of disposing of used agar plates, luckily for me my local hospital agrees to do it for us. I have to package them up safely and then label the box accordingly and deliver it to them. Maybe you could try that.
Also while on the subject of agar plates, I have had the senior bio class using them last week to culture substances and then put them in the incubator, I noticed when I opened the incubator after a day that there was a rather nasty smell. Can't imagine it is good for my health so I am putting a notice on the top of the cabinet to warn users to try to avoid inhaling the first lot of air that comes out (biological hazard?) when first opening the door.
cheers
Estelle

At what temperature does everyone set there incubators too? We dont allow plates to incubate over 28c.

We incubate at about 30 deg.

Our local path lab allows us to buy prepared agar plates directly from them, and then disposes of the plates when we're finished with them. Actually, its the condition of sale that we must bring them back. For most pathology labs the amount of plates we use is just a drop in their ocean, and its no extra trouble to take back a bag of used plates. Can't hurt to ask!

Cheers, Kristin

We too incubate at 30 deg. Works well for us.

Richard

My local dental van let me put agar plates in their hazardous waste bin.

I dispose our agar plates by putting them in the microwave for 10 minutes in a microwave bag and then sealing that bag in another bag and then putting it in the tuckshop external waste bin.

Our petri dishes are first sterilized under UV light in cabinent for 15 mins then bagged and placed in garbage

Thanks for the info.
I also was wondering what solution everyone uses to top up the animal and insect speciments for biology.
mine are almost dry and is there a possibility o turn them into perpexes ? blocks for student to look at them and how is tit done?[quote][/quote]

Hi;
I top them up with methylated spirits. Hope this helps.
Marjan

Hi
Here in WA we have to store our specimans in a 2-Phenoxyethanol and water mixture. This is because all flamable liquids (meths etc) must be stored in flamables cabinet and this mixture is inert. It was a big effort when we changed all our specimans but now it's really good. Not only can we dispay all our specimans. The 2-Phenoxyethanol do not have to cover the whole sample it is drawen up, very cost efficent.

Diana

The CSIS package suggest we use 50% Methylated Spirits & 50% Distilled water. Each item should be labeled telling us what the contains are.

Regards

Thanks for the info .
That will My next assignments when i have time

celia

We heat our agar plates at 30 degrees, and we dispose by taping plates from the beginning after they have exposed them, and then these plates are not to be opened again.

We incubate, view and then throw out by wrapping in newspaper, making sure all plates are sealed correctly and placing in a double garbage bag. Unfortunately being in a rural area, we need to go with our local disposal council.

Laurena
Waikerie High

For the safety of someone who might come across your cultures eg cleaners, council workers etc. wouldn't you at least have to heat the agar plates to kill off any unknown growths (biological hazards) before disposing of them into the garbage?
Here at work I am not allowed to dispose of them the way you do.

Estelle

Hi;
we're just doing our agar plates this week and I was wondering how to dispose them after using. I called the local microbilogy lab and asked him if he could dispose ours with their stuff but he said because they're environmetal bacteria ( students collect bacteria from rain water, garden...)
I could just wrap them up and put them in the garbage bin. no need to strilize them before disposing them (makes sens, because those bacteria are already everywhere). I wonder where do you get your bacteria from? are they bilogical or environmental?
Cheers
Marjan

Yep!!! here at the College we have just finished with the bacteria.agar plates
and it is ok to wrap unopened plates tightly in newspaper and tape up.Then wrap in plastic.However I always write BACTERIA WASTE very clearly for the cleaners to know what they are handling.
Cheers
Mother

Hi
Here in WA we have to sterilise all our incubated plates (sealed) before we dispose of them. Done by putting them back into pressure cooker in oven bags and heating. We then double bag them and place in the schools skip bin.
Our students Yr 8 & 9 take surface swabs around the school as well as rain water, soil and rivers etc. We have been told (our Regional Tecnicians Group) that even though the bacterium are out there normally, we have grown them up in a concentrated form. Therefore they MAY be of danger to anyone who comes into contact with them. So we can't just throw them out willy nilly.
Takes so little time to do and you just never know.
Diana