In the User’s Laboratory:

1. Empty the contents of used 15 or 50ml tubes (from bacterial, yeast, tissue culture, protein work, etc.). Note: Only Greiner Bio-one tubes or Eppendorf Tubes® BioBased are suitable for this process. Just empty the contents of the tubes (e.g., in Virkon) without rinsing and securely close the lids.

2. Continue collecting these tubes in racks or suitable containers.

 

Washing up Facility:

1. Ensure the tubes are empty with closed lids. Only Greiner Bio-one tubes or Eppendorf Tubes® BioBased should be collected for this process.

2. Erase any permanent marker pen labels from the tubes using 75%-100% ethanol.

3. Remove lids from the tubes. Fully submerge both tubes and lids in either 10% Distel (Scientific Lab Supplies part number: TRI1366, 5L) or 10% Chemgene HLD4L Concentrate (Clear Unfragranced, 5 Litre XTM309-C STARLAB (UK) Ltd) for 18hrs-36hrs. Use either distilled or tap water to dilute the disinfectant to 10%. Refresh the 10% disinfectant solution weekly.

4. Rinse the tubes and lids thoroughly with tap water.

5. Place the tubes and lids in a dishwasher. A water-only program is sufficient if only washing tubes and lids.

6. Dry the tubes and lids using a drier.

7. Transfer the tubes and lids to either an empty tip box, aluminium box, or autoclave bags. Ensure you close the box lid or seal the autoclave bags.

8. Attach autoclave tape to the box lid or autoclave bags, then proceed to autoclave.

9. Place the sealed box in a drier for two days to allow any trapped steam to evaporate. Note: Only use the drier for this purpose if it's being used for other items as well. If using the drier solely for this purpose, it isn't energy efficient.

10. Open the lids of the tip boxes (or aluminium boxes or bags) inside Class II cabinets (Tissue culture hood).

11. Close each tube with its corresponding lid and return them to the box, drawer, or autoclave bags for reuse.

12. Tubes treated with this protocol are deemed sterile for all non-cell culture work (e.g., cloning, protein work, western blotting, solution preparation). However, they're not suitable for tissue culture or RNA work. These tubes can be reused and washed multiple times until they deform or their lids no longer fit securely.