We do this all the time. Simply use a container suitable to hold your
formalin waste,a funnel, and a sieve. We place the sieve in the funnel and
catch all the tissues,they are then placed in a bucket in the cooler until
the "incinerator dude"comes to haul them off. The formalin is then recycled.
Sounds like you may have to collect and dipose. If so, check to see if you
can neutralize and pour down the drain or contact a waste management company
that can haul it off for you (and hopefully they will recycle!) .
Best to do the pourng under or near a strong pulling fume hood.
----- Original Message -----
From: <MTitford@aol.com>
To: <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 5:49 PM
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?
>