Waste Disposal

Procedures for waste disposal procedures at King’s Buildings.

Please read this guidance together with the SBS Policy and Code of Practice on Waste Disposal available on the Health and Safety website.  

Health and Safety - Laboratory waste

If you are unsure, please contact your buildings team for advice.

Key contacts

Non-lab waste

There are bins emptied by the cleaners throughout buildings for:

  • paper/cardboard,
  • plastics/cans,
  • food waste, and
  • general waste.
Photo of three different coloured bins

 Please look carefully when disposing of waste:

  • Put your waste in the correct bin.
  • Do not put liquids in any of the bins.
  • Do not over-fill the bins.

Please follow the guidance in the SBS Lab Waste flow chart below.


SBS Lab Waste Flowchart (670.03 KB / PDF)
Waste typeDisposal or Stores drop off point
Clinical (yellow) waste bags, sharps bins and cytotoxic binsTake to Stores or Stores drop off point for disposal.
Autoclave bags (no more than half-full)Take to Wash-up and Media for disposal.
Hazardous waste (chemicals, rechargeable batteries etc.)

Must be disposed via a licenced waste contractor.

For more information about hazardous waste, please see the Chemical and hazardous waste page.

Chemical and hazardous waste

Empty plastic chemical bottles should be rinsed out, the labels defaced and placed into the red bins.


Non-contaminated glass waste should be placed in your appropriate glass waste bin. 

Large winchester bottles can be used to discard chemical waste.

There is a collection point for large Winchester bottles outside Waddington freezer room otherwise place into the relevant glass waste bins. 

Please contact your building assistant if you require any Winchester bottles to collect chemical waste.


Send these back to your supplier, if possible, otherwise place in the storage point for each building as detailed below:

BuildingCollection Point
Ashworth complexAsh2 loading bay (within black bags)
Roger LandInside black bag outside stores
RutherfordIn metal cupboard in Waddington-Rutherford link
WaddingtonIn black bags outside freezer room
SwannLoading bay on level 1 or within the cages on level 2 and 5

Boxes should be collapsed down and taken to the appropriate waste collection trolley for the building – generally there is a rota to remove these to the outside bins. 

If you have a large amount to dispose, please take


For disposing of any small broken electrical waste, please take the items to the appropriate collection point in your building (see below) ensuring any lab equipment is clean and decontaminated with a decontamination certificate attached (download the certificate below).

BuildingCollection Point
Ashworth complexIn metal cages outside Ash3 foyer
Roger LandBlue trolley on ground floor near G.07
Waddington and RutherfordWaddington-Rutherford link (beneath the stairs)
SwannOld Stores

For any large or refrigerated items, please complete a WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment recycling) uplift request. 

Ensure each item has the decontamination certificate completed and attached. 

The item may need to stay in the lab until collection by the contractor as storage space is limited.

These should be taken to the following collection points in the building: 

BuildingCollection Point
Ashworth complexPlace in the collection box in the Ash1 foyer opposite printer room
Roger LandTake these to Stores
Waddington and RutherfordIn the Waddington locker room to be collected by Stores
SwannOld Stores to be collected by Stores

Please contact your building assistant for a bag and to arrange disposal.

Key contacts


Related links

For further details of the University's waste disposal policies, please visit the Waste Office website.

Waste and recycling 

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