Procedure for Destruction Microbial waste by Autoclaving

1.0 Objective: 1.1 To lay down the procedure of the Destruction of microbial waste by autoclaving.
2.0 Scope: 2.1 This SOP applies to carry out the procedure of Destruction of microbial wastes by autoclaving in a microbiology laboratory

3.0 Responsibility: 
3.1 Executive Microbiologist/ Microbiologist/
3.1.1 Preparation of SOP
3.1.2 Training for New Joiners.
3.1.3 To perform an activity.
3.1.4 Keep data as per GDP

4.0 Distribution:
4.1 Master Copy- Quality Assurance Department
4.2 Control copy- Quality Control Department

5.0 Procedure:
5.1 Wear mouth piece and hand gloves before starting the Destruction of microbial waste and collect all waste media and contaminated glassware to a discarding area.
5.2 Spatula, forceps, and scissors soak in disinfectant solution for 15 min.
5.3 For expiry and dehydrated media, empty the content in a large glass container and add a sufficient amount of water to dissolve the medium, and plug it into non-absorbent cotton.

5.4 Organize the Petri plates (with tops up) and glassware containing waste media in a suitable S.S. container or in the autoclavable polybag and then place them in a vertical autoclave along with indicator tape.
5.5 Start the autoclave and note down the time of autoclave starts.
5.6 Note down the time when the temperature and pressure reached 121℃ and 15 psi, respectively.
5.7 Hold the cycle for 30 minutes (note down the holding time) and switch off an autoclave after the completion of 30 minutes.

5.8 Open the autoclave when the pressure becomes 0 psi. Check the status of the indicator strip and take out the materials from the autoclave and transfer the materials to the washing area.
5.9 Collect the contaminated media in a polybag and dispose of the ETP plant.
5.10 Keep the destruction record of microbial wastes in a logbook.

6.0 ABBREVIATION:
QA- Quality assurance
QC- Quality Control
SOP- Standard operating procedure
LAF – Laminar airflow
GDP – Good document practices