November 20, 2009

Environmental Health & Safety

Waste Disposal

Waste disposal at TSRI is handled by various departments. Any questions concerning how a specific waste can be disposed should be directed to your safety coordinator. However, a general overview of TSRI's waste disposal practices are explained here. There are four main waste streams at TSRI: Regular Trash, Biohazardous Waste, Hazardous Chemical Waste (including Universal Wastes), and Radioactive Waste.

Regular Trash

The disposal of regular trash from labs and offices is handled by the department of Environmental Services. Recyclable material is also handled by this department. Specific questions regarding this type of waste should be directed to them by phone x4-9010 or email.

Absolutely no hazardous wastes may be disposed of to the regular trash. That includes that little bit at the bottom of the container. Check-out the "California Empty" guidelines.

Glassboxes are consider regular trash. The only difference is that the cardboard box provides added protection against potential puncture wounds or cuts that may be caused by broken glass, pipettes, or other objects that could otherwise penetrate a regular trash bag. Pipettes that are used with non-hazardous substances should be disposed in these containers.

Hazardous, biohazardous, or radioactive material or objects contaminated with these materials must NOT be disposed of in a glassbox.

Biohazardous Waste

The disposal of infectious waste, including biohazardous dry waste and sharps, is handled by the department on Environmental Services. If you have questions concerning the supply of containers or the disposal of biohazardous waste collected in your lab, please contact them by phone x4-9010 or email.

Biohazardous waste is defined as any cell lines or cultures, animal tissues or fluids, blood or blood products. Biohazardous means that biological organisms that could be hazardous to humans can possibly be viable in this material.

Biohazardous liquid wastes must be inactivated in the lab before disposal to the sanitary sewer. This is most commonly accomplished by adding bleach to the liquid and allowing appropriate time for disinfection. However, bleach is not always the most appropriate disinfectant. Consult the biosafety pages for more detailed instructions.

Hazardous Chemical Wastes

In order to have hazardous chemical wastes removed from your lab please attach an appropriately labeled waste tag noting the accumulation start date, the constituents of the waste and the amounts. Contact the EH&S waste technicians by calling and leaving a voice mail message at x4-4093. Follow the prompts, leave the appropriate information, and your waste will be picked up according to the schedule below.

If you are unsure as to whether your waste stream meets the definition of a hazardous waste you can contact your safety coordinator for details. However, there are very few items generated at TSRI that do not meet at least one of the federal or state definitions.

Universal Wastes

California is known for taking the lead on environmental issues. It should comes as no surprise that we have more stringent disposal requirements. One fairly new type of waste is called "Universal Wastes". This category includes common objects that contain toxic materials, usually in small quantities. Included in this category are batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, CRT screens, and thermometers. Here at TSRI these items must be collected as hazardous wastes. If you have specific question as to how to dispose of them please contact EH&S or reference our universal waste disposal posting.

California Empty

Don't let California landfills become the dumping ground for hazardous chemical wastes. Any amount of hazardous waste going to our landfills is inappropriate. Before throwing any so-called "empty" stock solution container into the regular trash, please follow the guidelines in this posting. Some of these containers are hazardous wastes by definition even if they've been cleaned out. Make sure you know the rules before disposing of these containers.

Radioactive Wastes

Although radioactive materials may decay to stable states, all items contaminated with radioactive materials during their useful life at TSRI must be disposed of by the EH&S office. Dry wastes, liquids, scintillation vials, radioactively contaminated sharps, animal carcasses and any other contaminated object must be called in (x4-4093) as waste to be picked-up by the EH&S waste technicians.

There are a number of requirements concerning the separation, packaging, and disposal of these materials. Please contact your safety coordinator or the radiation safety officer for assistance.

Waste Pick-Up Schedule

Radioactive and chemical wastes will be picked-up according to the following schedule only on request. Call x4-4093 for pick-up.

©2009