Yes, a few years back I worked at a hospital where each tech rotated the
unenviable task of using a colander to separate the specimens from the
formalin.  We would then double red bag and box the tissue for incineration.
This was mainly a cost-saving method, as the incineration contractor charged
by the pound.  

Can't say I miss doing that, though.

David A. Reynolds, HT(ASCP)
SNBL USA, Ltd.
6605 Merrill Creek Parkway
Everett, WA  98203


-----Original Message-----
From: MTitford@aol.com [mailto:MTitford@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 2:50 PM
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: About separating specimens and formalin...


Our hospital is about to stop using an incinerator to burn all its waste,
and 
instead create different waste streams. Most biohardous waste will be 
sterilized, some of that will be shredded, then eveything sent to a
landfill.
Surgical pathology specimens however, will be incinerated by an outside 
contractor. Trouble is, the contractor does not want the formalin, just the 
specimens! Has anyone else run into this? Are there histotechs around the 
country (or the world) emptying formalin out all those little containers,
and 
some large ones, that we all receive surgical pathology specimens in? How do

others separate the specimens and the formalin?