What do you do with your "used" Plastic Fruit Fly ( or other feeder insect) culture cups ?
I clean them out and reuse them until they break.
..guess I didn't think about reusing them.
Wow, that suprised me. My wife would not be happy if I tried cleaning them in the kitchen sink
derek
I have cups AND fabri cote lids that are well over 5 years old and have gone thru a dozen cleanings and hot, high pressure sprayed water.
Philsuma Wrote:I have cups AND fabri cote lids that are well over 5 years old and have gone thru a dozen cleanings and hot, high pressure sprayed water.
Same here Phil. I have a few cups that probably date back to 2001
hock: . Never understood the mentality of throwing away something completely re-usable. Then again, maybe I'm just a cheapskate ...
Im assuming to clean them well, with what mild soap and hot water?
No soap nessa.....only hot water and wiped really well.
If you soak the discarded culture for a few mins in hot water....the excelsior acts like a plug with a handle (the excel) and when you grab it and pull, a lot of the culture come outs - sometimes like a hockey puck.
It's really easy and not much mess at all , once you get the hang of it....
One time user here.
I save the lids and soak them in a mild bleach solution, but the gross cups are trash...YUK!
Philsuma Wrote:^^^ Shame, shame.....
LOL
I promise when I get a dishwasher in the bug room I'll switch to glass and reuse. :wink:
frogfreak Wrote:Philsuma Wrote:^^^ Shame, shame.....
LOL
I promise when I get a dishwasher in the bug room I'll switch to glass and reuse. :wink:
Funny thing is....someone on one of the forums did some research and said it was a toss -up as to just how "green" it was to wash and clean / reuse a plastic container due to the amount of heat (hot water) involved ect vs having it recycled as waste.
Interesting, either way.
What exactly are you guys washing them for? I've used the same plastic for years . Break about one every three years ( the lids are another issue in and of themselves though , break those all the time) and I've never once washed a cup...
Essentially , 99% of the time if you let them dry fully out you can turn them up side down, tap the 'hockey puck' and almost all residual out in one fell swoop. Done.
RichFrye Wrote:What exactly are you guys washing them for? I've used the same plastic for years . Break about one every three years ( the lids are another issue in and of themselves though , break those all the time) and I've never once washed a cup...
Essentially , 99% of the time if you let them dry fully out you can turn them up side down, tap the 'hockey puck' and almost all residual out in one fell swoop. Done.
Depends on the media used and other conditons, but yeah, I've had some used cultures that I could do that to - pop em out and reuse.
I think they big thing, is mites ect. I actually put my old cultures in the freezer for a few days.
Wow....at .30cents per culture cup and lid....I'm guessing the 'throw away crowd" does not have a large collection that requires 20 or 40 cultures made each week. Heh.
That's probably the big diff in the poll results here.....the big breeders vs small, one or two viv guys....
I do 24 cultutes a week @ 12 cents a cup = $2.88. It's not worth the time imo. That's just me though.
Remove the lid and squash the cups together and it doesn't take up a whole lot of space in the landfill.
Like you said earlier, we also have to consider whether it's more environmentally sound to toss or clean them...
If I was doing 3-4 cultures a week I'd probably clean them out.
Landfill ?
.....I wonder what the recycle people who seperate all the trash would think of a whole bunch of "ripe" smelling FF cultures ?
Especially Hydei....those cultures smell like old baby diapers and Indian Food.
More like a 90 year old in diapers and Indian food.
hock: