Hello Dave, and Everyone,
We generally have students place broken glass inside a cardboard container, and not it the trash. Broken glass in the trash is a major injury risk to the custodial staff if it pokes through the thin plastic trash bag when transferring it to another container. The box will usually fill up with all kinds of broken lab glassware in a couple of years. Broken shards are contained in the box with minimal risk to the trash handler. And the full box can be placed directly into the dumpster as solid waste.
If there something crazy dangerous or toxic, then it should go into a sharps container and be handled as hazardous waste or medical waste.
Below are a couple of Grainger items that might be helpful. Put the Item number into the Grainger search field.
SP SCIENCEWARE Recycling Collection Box: 12 gal Container Capacity, 8 in Overall Wd, 8 in Overall Dp
Item 21TR91Mfr. Model F24653-0002
COVIDIEN Sharps Container: 1/4 gal, 10 Count, Hinged Lid, Red, 10 PK
Item 3UTE4
Mfr. Model SR1Q100900
Eric
Eric Clark, MS, CCHO, CHMM
Environmental & Occupational
Health & Safety Specialist
Los Angeles Trade Technical College
400 West Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90015
T: 213-763-3632
F: 213-763-5392
-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of davivid
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2025 11:10 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Disposal of broken glass/ autosampler vials
The recent threads on disposal of trace quantities of hazardous materials prompts me to ask about how to properly dispose of used autosampler vials, typically containing ~1mL each of dilute solutes in some solvent such as acetonitrile. Also, how should broken glassware be dealt with? In my experience these items have been disposed of in the trash, but I suspect that may not be best practice.
If these items require treatment before disposal that's going to cause quite a bit of push-back from staff.
Regards
Dave Lane
Principal
Clavis Technology Development
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