Demystify: 

Actually, there are two safety issues that you are dealing with. One is a biosafety issue and the second is a hazardous chemical issue. For the biosafety concern, bleach is recommended for decontamination (10%). Liquids can be disposed of down the sink and solids must be disposed of as biosafety hazards in red bags and by a company licensed for biosafety disposal. May be state specific requirements in addition to the federal requirements. However, the second issue is whether the dye is considered a hazardous chemical and if so, the specimen, liquid or solid, must be appropriately disposed of as hazardous chemical waste. You should probably consult with your university chemical and biological safety people.

dona wong

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On Apr 8, 2012, at 8:26 AM, "Ferm, Barret" > wrote:

Thank you for asking your question, Blanca. I, too, am interested in hearing replies to it. For these types of solutions I have been advised to add bleach to decolorize, and adjust pH to (5 - 8) if necessary, then down the drain. Is this okay??

Barry Ferm

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 1:00 PM, Martinez, Blanca A. > wrote:
Hello,
As a student finishing my clinical rotation as a medical laboratory scientist, I have received conflicting information regarding the proper disposal of gram stain - Crystal Violet, Gram's Iodine (mordant), Alcohol/Acetone (gen. isopropanol decolourize), and safranin. Some say proper disposal when staining human specimens is sufficient with water flushing down the drain versus collection into a carboy. Since I am still a student in the field, I do not question what is told to me however, I would like to know proper daily disposal. When looking at various MSDS for these chemicals it usually states to follow federal/state/local regulations for empty bottles/excess remainder however, daily disposal seems awfully vague. Can anyone please shed some light on the matter.

Thank you in advance,
Blanca Martinez

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