STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE Disposal of Used Media and Cultures

	STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
	Department: Quality Control	SOP No.: QC/MB/xxx
Disposal of Used Media and Cultures		Effective Date:
		Review Date:
		Page No.: 1

1.0            OBJECTIVE:

1.1                 To lay down a procedure for destruction and disposal of used media and cultures.

2.0            SCOPE:

2.1                   This Procedure is applicable for destruction and disposal of the used media and cultures in Microbiology laboratory at  Private Limited.

3.0            RESPONSIBILITY:

3.1                 Lab Assistant: Performing the destruction activity

3.2                 Microbiologist- Execution of activity

3.3                 Section In-charge – To review the activity and check the records

3.4                 QC Head- To implement the Procedure

3.5                 Head QA- Overall Compliance

4.0            PROCEDURE:

4.1                 For Conical Flasks and Test Tubes:

4.1.1             Place the used media conical flasks, test tubes, positive control flasks and culture suspension test tubes in a stainless steel container.

4.1.2             Keep the loaded stainless steel container in autoclave and sterilize at 15 lbs. pressure, at 121°C temperature for 30 minutes.

4.1.3             Record the load details in Annexure I of QC/MB/059 or Annexure II of QC/MB/045.

4.1.4             After competition of autoclave cycle, take the stainless steel container to the washing area, remove the sterilized conical flasks and test tubes from the stainless steel container.

4.1.5             Collect the liquid media or broth from conical flasks and test tubes into a polythene cover send to effluent tank.

4.1.6             Now keep the empty tubes and conical flasks in any of disinfectant (5 % v/v Dettol, 5% v/v Savlon, 1% v/v Bacillocid special or 1% Hospal –OT) solution for 1 hour and follow further cleaning procedure as per the current version of SOP No.: QC/MB/016.

4.2                 For Glass petri plates and culture slants:

4.2.1             Place the used glass petri plates, culture slants (test tubes) and positive control plates in a stainless steel container.

4.2.2             Keep the loaded stainless steel container in autoclave and sterilize at 15 lbs. pressure, at 121°C temperature for 30 minutes.

4.2.3             Record the load details in Annexure I of QC/MB/059 or Annexure II of QC/MB/045.

4.2.4             After competition of autoclave cycle, take the stainless steel container to the washing area, remove the sterilized petri plates and culture slants from the stainless steel container.

4.2.5             Collect the molten agar media from petri plates and culture slants (test tubes) into a polythene cover send to effluent tank.

4.2.6             Now keep the empty plates and test tubes in any of disinfectant (5 % v/v Dettol, 5% v/v Savlon, 1% v/v Bacillocid special or 1% Hospal –OT) solution for one hour and follow further cleaning procedure as per the current version of SOP No.: QC/MB/016.

4.3                 For Disposable petri plates:

4.3.1             Remove the used agar media from disposable petri plates and collect into disposable autoclavable poly bags.

4.3.2             Collect all empty disposable petri plates in to another autoclavable poly bag.

4.3.3             Place the media filled autoclavable poly bags and empty petri plates filled autoclavable poly bags in a stainless steel container.

4.3.4             Keep the loaded stainless steel container in autoclave and sterilize at 15 lbs. pressure, at 121°C temperature for 30 minutes.

4.3.5             Record the load details in Annexure I of QC/MB/xxx or Annexure II of QC/MB/xxx.

4.3.6             After competition of autoclave cycle, take the stainless steel container to the washing area, remove the sterilized petri plates poly bags and media poly bag from the stainless steel container.

4.3.7             Send the sterilized media to effluent tank and sterilized disposable petri plates to scrap.

4.4                 Precautions:

4.4.1             Wear nose mask and hand gloves before starting the destruction activity.

4.4.2             Use heat-proof gloves, nose mask & goggles during handling of sterilized disposable material.

5.0            ABBREVIATIONS:

QC: Quality Control	QA: Quality Assurance
v/v: Volume / Volume	%: Percentage
SOP: Standard Operating Procedure

6.0           ANNEXURES : NA

7.0           REFERENCES:

7.1                 Methods for the collection and analysis of aquatic biological and microbiological          samples: Britton, L.J., and Greeson, P.E., 1987, Page no. 39 and 53.

7.2                 World Health Organization WHO Technical Report Series, No. 961, 2011 Annex 2, (WHO good practices for pharmaceutical microbiology laboratories).