From: "Russ Phifer"Date: August 10, 2009 2:18:54 PM EDT Subject: RE: [DCHAS-L] Disposal of butyl lithium Perhaps after reading Jay and Mike=92s responses I got this wrong initially, but I don=92t think so. It was my impression that Dona was looking for advice on the safety of transporting a container of butyl lithium to Harvard Medical School=92s hazardous waste storage area themselves as opposed to having their contractor pick it up directly from the lab. I didn=92t see she had asked about the suitability or legality of either treating this to render it less or non-hazardous, or about when this material becomes a waste. I don=92t think, particularly given events of the recent past, that Harvard wants to tackle treating this material - I don=92t think they want to handle the material at all other than to arrange for its proper disposal off-site. While Jay and Mike were both correct in their responses - you should read the question thoroughly before attempting to answer! Gentle admonishment=85 It should be safe to move the container to a properly secured hazardous waste accumulation area. Russ Russ Phifer WC Environmental, LLC 1085C Andrew Drive West Chester, PA 19380 610-696-9220x12/ fax 610-344-7519 rphifer**At_Symbol_Here**wcenvironmental.com === From: jshime2**At_Symbol_Here**UIC.EDU Subject: RE: [DCHAS-L] Disposal of butyl lithium As someone who has had responsibility for hazardous waste disposal at an academic medical center I wanted to see how other would respond to your query before I added my two cents. I now feel the need to add my opinion to the mix. While I am not familiar with the specific chemical I am assuming that we are talking about a small quantity <1L and that the chemical has been properly stored and is currently stable. If either of these assumptions is incorrect then I would suggest your hazardous waste manager be contacted immediately and arrangements made to dispose the chemical from the laboratory. Assuming your institution is a large quantity generator in the eyes of the regulators the waste must be disposed every 90 days. I would suggest that the institution's waste manager be contacted and made aware of the need for disposal of the chemical. You should be able to find out when the next shipment of waste is scheduled. The waste manager needs to know that you have this chemical to dispose and the quantity so that arrangements can be made with the waste hauler. I suspect that it will be expensive to disposet this chemical regardless of where it is collected from as it is not a common chemical. The waste hauler needs to know the destination of the chemical for disposal before he may remove the waste. I would let the PI store the waste in his/her laboratory and bring the waste to the storage room on the day the waste hauler is scheduled to remove the waste from the institution. Waste storage rooms are to be inventoried daily or as waste enters the room so that arrangements for disposal can be made. Since the waste is not stored in this room its disposal may be overlooked. The waste hauler cannot accept the waste if he does not have a treatment facility that will accept the waste. I don't advocate storage of chemical waste in individual laboratories but every rule has an acception. Regards, Jo Anna Shimek, CIH, CSP Chicago, Illinois
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post