Environmental Health & Safety

Operational Practices to Minimize Hazardous Waste

• Centralize the purchasing of chemicals through one person in the lab.
• Take inventory of your chemicals regularly. Note the dates on the chemicals and dispose of any aging chemicals in a timely manner.
• Use all of your older chemicals before purchasing or opening new chemicals.
• Do experiments on as small a scale as is feasible, and periodically review procedures to see if the scale could be reduced.
• Prevent students from over-dispensing chemicals.
  • Pre-weigh/pre-dispense chemicals that are needed for experimentation.
  • Store stock chemicals in small nozzled bottles
  • Prepare stock solutions prior to each experiment or on a regular periodic basis (for example, on every Monday) rather than keeping them constantly on the shelf.
• Accurately label all waste bottles.
• Detoxify or neutralize waste products if possible.
• Substitute instrumental methods for wet chemistry whenever possible.
• Purchase compressed gas cylinders or lecture bottles only from manufacturers who will accept the empty cylinders back.
• Avoid mixing wastes.
  • Keep non-hazardous chemical waste separate from hazardous waste.
  • Avoid experiments that produce waste that is both radioactive and chemically hazardous.
  • Keep chemical waste separate from normal trash.