Good afternoon,

This note is to make sure that all labs disposing of biohazardous waste are using red (or orange) biohazard bags with the biohazard symbol. Please do not use clear, transparent bags that have the biohazard symbol. Even though the clear bags have the biohazard symbol, it is not always visible and can be confusing to the custodial staff. New custodial staff are trained on which bags are safe to empty (normal trash) and they use the color of the bag (red = do not touch; blue/clear = empty) to make that determination.

If you already have clear biohazard bags, please use them up but order the red colored ones the next time. I would recommend placing additional biohazard stickers on the outside of the bin in which these clear bags are placed to let custodians know not to pick them up. Labeling regular trashcans as “trash” will help too.

One faculty was also asked to add red tape to an ethidium bromide waste container lid to further indicate that it was not general trash. Therefore, you may want to scan your labs to make sure anything that may look like trash to the custodians is properly labeled so it does not accidentally end up in regular trash.

Thanks,

Jayne Stratton

Jayne Stratton Rsch Professor University of Nebraska–Lincoln Food Processing Center 1901 N 21st St Lincoln, NE 68588-6206 mailto: jstratton1@unl.edu tel: 4024722829