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Chemical collection and stock control for UK schools, universities and hospitals

Glycine (CAS 56-40-6): storage and disposal

School prep rooms keep glycine as a white powder for amino acid work, while university and pathology laboratories use it in electrophoresis and other buffers. It is not classified as hazardous on the sources we checked. It is still a chemical waste and has to be described accurately, so what matters at the point of disposal is whether a container holds plain glycine or a mixed buffer that someone has made up.

CAS number
56-40-6
Form
Solid
Storage class
General
Usual EWC code
16 05 09

What to do this week

  1. Check the label is readable and write down the opened date if it is not already there.
  2. Check it is stored as general stock and apart from the items listed under "Do not store with".
  3. If you no longer need it, add it to your disposal list so it goes on the next collection.

Safe storage in a school or lab

In a school preparation room glycine usually sits with the other amino acids and general salts, and that is the right place for it: a dry, labelled shelf away from food grade supplies. Its main enemy is damp, so a tub with a stiff cap or a split lid should be replaced rather than taped. Write the date of receipt on the tub, because glycine has no colour or smell to give away its age. University and pathology stores often split their stock between powder and made-up buffer, and the two should be recorded separately. Keep glycine solutions in capped bottles with the name and date written on, since they look identical to water.

How to tell it has deteriorated

Start with the tub, not the powder. A cracked lid, a faded label or a missing date tells you more than the contents do. Good glycine is a white crystalline powder that flows freely. Hard lumps or a damp patch at the base mean moisture has entered. This substance gives few other visible signs, so a normal looking tub says little about its age. Solutions are the weak point: a clear liquid can turn cloudy, develop floating specks or grow a film once microbes have settled in, and an old bottle in the fridge with no date is best left closed and recorded for collection.

How it must be disposed of

By specialist collection only. It never goes down the drain or into general waste. It is normally packed in a non-regulated or low hazard laboratory pack with compatible chemicals.

Small tubs of glycine are grouped with other low hazard laboratory solids and packed together by the collector, so a mixed shelf of buffer salts can often travel as one group. For a university store the entry is 16 05 09, described as non hazardous, with a waste transfer note. That label does not make it household rubbish: it must not go into a sink, a drain, a general waste bin or a skip, and nobody should try to treat a solution first. Specialist collection is the route. Record whether each container is powder or buffer, its size, and what the buffer contains besides glycine, since that decides how it is described.

Waste codes and transport details for Glycine
EWC code, laboratory chemicals16 05 09
Human healthcare setting18 01 07
Hazardous wasteNo

The code depends on where the waste came from and what it is mixed with. Use the waste code finder to see why.

Common quantities we collect

Usually held as: solid.

Part-used bottles and full containers are both fine. Tell us the size and how many, and an estimate is enough for a first price.

Where it is commonly held

Questions

Is glycine powder really chemical waste if it is not classified?

Yes. Not being classified as hazardous on the sources we checked does not turn it into ordinary waste. An unwanted tub stays a laboratory chemical, is described accurately on the paperwork and leaves by specialist collection. School stores sometimes assume it can go in the bin because it is an amino acid.

How can a technician tell if a glycine buffer has spoiled?

Look for cloudiness, floating specks or a film on the surface, and check that the label still shows the name and date made. If any of these is missing or the liquid has changed, close the bottle, record it and include it in the next collection.

Should powder and made-up glycine buffer be recorded separately?

Yes. Powder is a single substance, while buffer may contain other salts that change the description of the waste. Note the container size and everything the label lists, and keep the two apart in the stock list.

Guidance only. Check your own risk assessment and your supplier's safety data sheet.

Hazard data source: PubChem GHS Classification, retrieved 31 Oct 2026. Formula C2H5NO2. EC number 200-272-2.

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