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8.2 Chemical waste

All chemicals must be managed in accordance to Safety Data Sheet (SDS). The information about disposal considerations and waste treatment methods describes in section 13 of the Safety Data Sheet.

Basic principle for disposal of chemicals to sewage

  1. All chemicals must be handled according to information in section 13 of the Safety Data Sheet (SDS). Only in cases where the Safety Data Sheet clearly describes that, the chemical may be poured into the sewer system can it be handled that way and only with large quantities of water.
  2. If there is, no Safety Data Sheet available for the chemical do not poured it into the sewage.
  3. Read always the chemicals hazard statements in section 2 of the Safety Data Sheet and take into account any protective measures due to the chemical properties that may pose a risk to the personnel or plumbing system in the laboratory.

This means that only solutions that are undoubtedly completely harmless to personnel, water locks, sewer system, plumping, the waste water treatment plant´s various processes, open water and it´s organisms, both in short and long term, may be added to the sewer system.

Products and chemicals that count as chemical waste

Materials that are contaminated with chemicals:

  • Needles, syringes, razor blades, and broken laboratory glass
  • NMR tubes, LC and GC vials containing solvents

Must always be packed in a plastic container labeled with correct pictogram and put in an unlabeled cardboard box together with:

  • Gloves, pipette tips, disposable paper tissue that have been contaminated with chemicals
  • Packaging that has been contaminated with chemicals.

The box and bag can be picked up at the janitor's offfice.

  • Workshop chemicals, e.g. glue, paint residues, oils
  • Sprays bottles with residues
  • Darkroom / photo chemicals, e.g. developer solutions, stop bath, fixer etc. are also treated as chemical waste.

Will be packed by for transportation by waste handling company SYSAV.

When writing a Risk assessment for management of chemicals, it is important to include waste management that should form the basis for management of chemical waste.

Aqueous and Ether waste

Aqueous and ether waste should be stored at your division until collected by SYSAV. See “To schedule a collection” below.

Scintillation solution

Liquid scintillation solution is classified as chemical waste when:

  • the solution does not contain alpha-radiant nuclides
  • the solution contains only H-3 or C-14 and the activity is maximum 10 Bq/ml, or 100Bq/ml

The brown cardboard box with liquid scintillation solution classed as chemical waste must be specially labelled, see below.

Print out the label: Kemiskt avfall etikett - Staff pages.

Environmentally friendly and non-health hazardous substances

Environmentally friendly and non-health hazardous substances, including water-based solvents, inorganic acids and bases.

These should be neutralized and poured into the wastewater in the sewage system. If you do not have the proper knowledge of how to do, schedule a pick-up by SYSAV.

Other chemical waste

Waste containing mercury must be kept and packed separately.

Waste containing heavy metals such as cadmium, zinc, arsenic must be packed separately.

All liquid heavy metal waste, must be kept in plastic containers, labelled with the type of solvent you use, the apporoximate concentrations of the heavy metals, pH for watery solutions, and finally labelled with correct CLP pictograms.

All chemical waste is stored at the department/division until collected by SYSAV. The waste containers must be stored in a designated are during the accumulation period.

Packing of waste chemicals

The waste will be packed for transportation by waste handling company SYSAV. 

The waste must be stored at your division until collected by SYSAV. See “To schedule a collection” below.

To schedule a collection of waste

Fill in the form for removal of chemical waste. The form is found on Waste, hazardous waste and recycling - Staff pages. The form is also available in Swedish on Avfall, farligt avfall och källsortering - Medarbetarwebben

Cans and bottles without label should be marked with a label for chemical waste, download it from 8.Waste handling - Department of chemistry sharepoint (login with Lucat).

SYSAV will contact you and schedule a pick up. On the day of the pick up, two copies of the form should be signed, one by you and the other by the person collecting the chemicals. Your copy should be stored at your department/division/centre for future reference. 

Page Manager: information@kc.lu.se | 2022-06-13