Non-hazardous Waste

Non-hazardous waste should be handled as follows:

  • Sharps (e.g., such as glass or plastic pipettes, broken glass, test tubes, petri dishes, razor blades, needles) waste with no hazardous chemicals  contamination must be placed into puncture resistant containers (e.g., sharps container, plastic or metal container with lid) and properly labeled.
  • Clean uncontaminated broken glassware and plastic sharps should be placed in a corrugated cardboard box or other strong disposable container. When ready for disposal, the box should be taped shut and prominently labeled as “Sharp Objects/Glass - Discard” or similar wording. These are picked up by custodial and disposed with regular trash removal.
  • Empty bottles are considered non-hazardous after decontamination and triple-rinsing. After decontamination and triple-rinsing, the hazard warning label shall be defaced and disposed as non-hazardous waste.
    • Triple rinsing - a chemical bottle/container that is empty but has residual chemicals (solid or liquid) should be rinsed with an appropriate solvent (generally isopropanol or acetone) into an compatible liquid chemical waste container. After ALL potential chemical residue has been rinsed into a chemical waste container, the chemical bottle/container can then be rinsed with water. This rinseate should go into the appropriate liquid chemical waste container. Afterwards, TWO ADDITIONAL RINSES WITH WATER should be done of the chemical bottle/container and these can be disposed down the drain. This chemical bottle/container can then be left to dry completely of all water and label should be either removed or crossed off of chemical name using a permanent marker. The chemical bottle can be used for waste or other storage - however, it must be properly labelled for this use. These bottles can also be given to RMS.