disposal of MMA

There are several ways to dispose of the MMA waste and it also may depend on the rules established by your facility.

1) the 2nd infiltrating solution can be filtered and used to make prepolymerized layers. That way the solution is recycled and it reduces your waste.

2) if you can dispose of the waste as a solid, go ahead and polymerize the waste and dispose of it as required by your facility.

3) if you must dispose of the solution as a liquid, stir in hydroquinone (about a teaspoon per 100 ml) and collect the waste in 5 gallon metal cans. Again this must be confirmed by the safety officer at your facility. Hydroquinone can be purchased from Aldrich. Handle with caution, as hydroquinone is a carcinogen!!

I now operate my own private contract histology lab and live and operate the lab "in the country". We make prepolymerized layers to replace the ones used for embedded specimens. We also place as much as 600 ml in polypropylene containers that have a snap top lid and then we place them outside. Within a couple of hours depending on the outside temperature, the solution usually polymerizes. You could polymerize in the lab but keep in mind that the larger the volume the greater the potential for a polymerization mess!!