Australia's Science Forum

Good morning labbies,

Cannot believe it is week 5 already! Almost half way to the next holidays!

Last week I had a discussion with one of the science teachers about how to dispose of broken glass. While she seemed to think it was the cleaners who should clean it up I reassured her that it was infact my job (even though I wish the cleaners did do it!!)

She seemed to think it was a dangerous job and was concerned for my safety (bless her). And so I thought I would see how everybody else cleans up their broken glass? For small things I tend to wrap them in lots of newspaper and put them in the bin. Luckily in my 2 years in the job I have not had to deal with any large broken items but how does everyone else handle these?

Any comments and feedback would be great!

We have two bins in each perp room, one for glass the other for rubbish. I believe WHS says we must have two bins, so the cleaners do not cut them shelf. Our cleaner knows that if their is glass in the glass bin, she must be careful, it may be broken, or I may have thrown out a bad beaker and it is still altogether.

We have broken glass buckets in each lab which I clean out and then place the broken glass directly into the wheelie bins we have around the play ground which the maintenance staff change daily.

We have a separate bin for broken glass and when full I tape lid down and dispose in outside large collection bins for general rubbish. It cannot be recycled. In last 4 weeks I have filled 2x A4 size boxes with lots of glass including 3Lbeaker, grrrr my only one
Lada

I tell the teachers to wrap any broken glass in newspaper which they should have a supply in their classroom. Often though, it gets sent back to me, and I wrap it up.

I have a separate bin with a bin liner. This gets put into an A4 paper box, taped up, marked broken glass and I take it to directly to the large bins. It does not go into the playground bins, the cleaners do not touch it at all. I wear safety glasses and a long pair of leather gloves when handling it. I guess cleaning up broken glass isn't "cleaning"

We have 2 bins one for rubbish and 1 for glass(this one is metal) the cleaner empties the rubbish and the GA does the glass bin about once a term or so

I have a solid A4 size cardboard box in each prep room along with a dustpan and broom for broken glass.
I put extra tape on the bottom before it goes into the classroom as well as taping the tops back against the sides.

When it is full I release the tops and tape it up well. label it broken glass and put the whole box into the dumpster.

We used to have "broken Glass buckets" which had their contents wrapped in newspaper when full but I have found this minimised the risks involved wrapping the broken glass up.

I periodically, wearing goggles and gloves, smash the beakers etc into smaller pieces so more can fit in the box.

I have plastic buckets with lids that I put broken glass into. We don't put broken glassware into normal garbage. (WHS issue for cleaners.) When glass (sharps) bucket is full I scrounge the boxes that the photocopy paper comes in, tape up the bottom, tip the contents of broken glass bucket into the box, securely tape down lid and scrawl over every surface of the box, with Texta, that there is broken glass in the box and then put it into the industrial bin.
Lyn.

I'm with Lyn

Merilyn1 wrote:I guess cleaning up broken glass isn't "cleaning"

Indeed it is not. It is regarded more as a chemical spill or similar hazard.

Which it might as well be too, come to that. Not all broken glassware were empty at the time, after all.


We too put aside a bucket/bin to collect breakages from the laboratories over the term for bulk disposal into industrial bins. It fills up depressingly fast.

BTW most lab waste glass is not recyclable and causes trouble at glass plant if put in with soda glass

We have a bucket for lab glass that we empty into the wheelie bins. Borosilicate glass (most lab glass) is not recyclable.

Additionally, you should probably make sure all borosilicate glass waste is properly smashed so it cannot be scavenged.

There's another reason Pyrex is no longer allowed to produce borosilicate kitchenware, and we have to go through police checks to purchase borosilicate flasks and stuff.

Why the police checks?

Lyn.

I guess breaking bad has a lot to answer. Making Meth...

Hi there.
Yes it is our job. Wrap the glass in lots of newspaper and tape it up. Don't forget to write what it is you have wrapped. Then dispose in your normal bin for the cleaner to take away.

Cheers
Mother

When I did Occ Health and Safety training, we were told that you should never wrap or box broken glass and we must take the broken pieces directly to the main collection bin so that there is no risk to anyone other than yourself and the disposal company.
Apparently the risk of injury is increased even when labelled (as we all know not everyone reads) and it has resulted in severely injured hands and feet because assumptions are made that the rubbish is just a box or paper, lets push it down because the bin is getting a bit full...

Cheers

Wouldnt random peices of broken glass amongst all the other rubbish be more dangerous?

That is my opinion too... although that is one reason that we have to take it directly to the skip bins ourselves. I know I wouldn't jump or press down any of our skips... just a touch too disgusting for my liking