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Treatment solutions for infectious risk waste Linkedin

Laboratories / research

  • Hospital labs
  • Microbiology, virology, bacteriology, etc. labs
  • Clinical testing labs
  • Clinical microbiology labs
  • Teaching labs
  • Quality control labs in the pharmaceutical/cosmetic/agricultural & food industries
  • Biosafety labs (P2, P3, P4)
  • R&D labs
  • Veterinary labs
  • Environmental control labs (water, air, waste)
  • Anatomic pathology and cytopathology labs
  • Autopsy rooms
  • Human or veterinary health public or private research facilities
  • Animal research centers
  • Pet stores and animal health clinics
  • Biotech labs and manufacturing facilities
  • Vaccine and other biotech product manufacturing facilities
  • Mobile labs (independent containers/modules)
  • Medical/diagnostic device manufacturers

Highly contaminating biohazardous waste

Research and analysis activities produce waste with a particularly high risk of infection due to the presence of pathogens, often in high concentrations.

Some facilities may also produce biocontaminated waste containing or likely to contain highly pathogenic micro-organisms, such as:

  • Class 2, 3 or 4 micro-organisms (NSB 2, NSB 3, NSB 4)
  • Non-conventional transmissible agents (NCTA) – prions
  • Genetically modified organisms (GMO)

Some examples of analysis, research or manufacturing waste

In analysis, research or production activities, infectious waste is commonly known as related biohazardous waste.

Biologically contaminated waste from analysis, research or manufacturing activities is made up largely of single-use material that must be destroyed:

DASRI Labo
  • Plastic or glass lab consumables: Petri dishes, test tubes, collection tubes, pipettes, etc.
  • Contaminated single-use material: PPE, tapes, coveralls, goggles, masks, caps, shoe covers, etc.
  • Sharps: needles, syringes, blades, slides, etc.
  • Filters
  • Bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment
  • Surgical instruments
  • Liquid biohazardous waste
  • Anatomical waste, animal carcasses and by products (depending on local regulations)
  • Waste from manufacturing batches or R&D on medical devices (MD)

Specific nature of laboratory/research biohazardous waste

In these facilities, liquid biohazardous waste is handled in the form of blood, culture media, gel media, waste from automated analyzers. This generates heavy lab waste with a high kg/L density (mass to volume ratio).

In general, lab waste is packaged in bags (that may be autoclaved or not), biohazardous waste containers or drums.

DASRI Laboratoires

Prior inactivation

To dispose of analytic, research or manufacturing biohazardous waste, prior treatment is often required by law, regulation and/or local guidelines in many countries.

In this case, waste is previously decontaminated in a sterilization autoclave. Autoclaving in a sterilizer reduces the starting microbial load, however often biohazardous waste is often packaged in hermetic containers that do not let the steam penetrate fully, so complete decontamination of this waste is not guaranteed.

Tesalys’ STERIPLUS™ system can be used instead of an autoclave in destroying/inactivating lab waste, instead of classic sterilizers. STERIPLUS™ built-in shredder ensures perfect penetration of the steam through the waste and consequently, more significant neutralization of any biological risk.

STERIPLUS™ benefits:

  • Solid and liquid biohazardous waste treatment
  • Shredding and decontamination stages in the same equipment
  • Solid waste physically transformed (shredding)
  • Decontamination by autoclave (steam sterilization at 135 °C/275 °F)
  • Steam penetrates the waste core thanks to prior shredding
  • Complete treatment cycle in 30 min
  • Weight/volume of waste to dispose significantly reduced
  • Easily installed on-site

Application examples


Public research lab in France (INSERM-CNRS) that handles GMOs

  • Type of waste treated: Single-use lab material (pipettes, Petri dishes, etc.), small surgical instruments.
  • Advantage: Shredding reduces the volume of waste by 65%, and sterilization at 135 °C/275 °F neutralizes the risks of GMOs according to the recommendations of the HCB (Haut Conseil des Biotechnologies).

P3 mobile lab in combating Ebola in Africa

  • Type of waste treated: Potentially contaminated patient samples, single-use diagnostic and analysis material
  • Advantages: The compact and easy-to-install STERIPLUS™ system can be placed in a container to treat highly pathogenic material on-site.

Animal health vaccine manufacturer, Eastern European site

  • Type of waste treated: Roller bottles for cell culture
  • Advantages: The integrated shredding and sterilization system enables it to process large quantities of bottles within the same manufacturing site.

European manufacture of medical devices for blood testing

  • Use: Destruction of manufacturing tools and contaminated non-conforming batches
  • Advantages: On-site destruction using shredding and autoclaving ensures decontamination but also protects the confidentiality and intellectual property (IP) of medical devices or patented manufacturing tools.