Chemical Waste Disposal

EH&S is responsible for the collection of hazardous chemical waste for the University, including all campuses and off-site locations. Hazardous chemical waste is defined as any liquid, gaseous, or solid chemical that is ignitable, corrosive, reactive, toxic, or persistent, and is no longer useful or wanted.

According to Administrative Policy Statement 11.2, organizational units and departments cannot contract with an outside vendor to collect hazardous waste.There is no charge for hazardous chemical waste collection, except for unknowns and unstable peroxide forming chemicals.

Request a one-time collection of your waste using the Online Chemical Waste Collection request system or by using your MyChem inventory and the waste request functionality built into it.

If you generate waste on a regular basis, consider setting up a routine pickup.

To do this, fill out a New Routine Chemical Waste Collection Request.
Your chemical waste will be assigned a routine number that will be linked to the waste composition and the pickup location.
If you have questions about whether a waste qualifies for routine collection, email chmwaste@uw.edu or call 206.616.5835.

If you already have a routine number and want a pickup, fill out the online Routine Chemical Waste Collection Request with that number and the amount of waste.

What you need to know

Chemicals that are corrosive, flammable, toxic or explosive are "hazardous." Some additional chemicals are managed as hazardous waste at UW because they are known, probable or suspected carcinogens, teratogens, irritants and/or sensitizers (see a current safety data sheet for the chemical to determine if the chemical is any of these.) For more information, refer to Section 3 of the Laboratory Safety Manual, take the Managing Laboratory Chemicals online training or call 206.616.5835. Also refer to local sewer discharge limits for some common laboratory chemicals.

Mixtures of chemicals may not be hazardous waste, depending on their concentration and toxicity. For information on how to calculate whether a mixture of chemicals is hazardous waste, see Section 3 of the Laboratory Safety Manual.

Waste Accumulation Rules

If you are unwilling or unable to determine if your chemical or chemical mixture is hazardous, fill out and send a Waste Evaluation Request and EH&S will send you the answer.

Containers with dangerous waste must remain closed, except when adding or removing waste.

Accumulate waste in a sturdy, compatible container with a screw top lid.
Label all containers with a completed UW Hazardous Waste Label (see FAQs below).
Leave some headspace in the container for temperature and vapor pressure changes.
Store waste in secondary containment to contain spills and leaks.
Make sure that the waste accumulation location is under your control (i.e. not in hallways).
Stay under maximum accumulation limits for each type of waste (54 gallons for most chemical waste, 1 quart for extremely hazardous waste.
Do not accumulate the same type of waste in two different containers at the same time.
Documented required training for chemical waste management.
- Laboratory staff should take the online training for Managing Laboratory Chemicals or periodic classroom training.
- Shops and facilities staff should use the Chemical Waste Guide for Facilities Services as training; the last page of the guide serves as training documentation.
- Clinical staff should take the Hazardous Waste Management for Clinical and Hospital Staff online training.

If you don’t follow these regulations, we will delay your pick up until the problem has been corrected. If you have any questions, please contact the EHS collection person assigned to your area.

We have created a self-audit checklist to help you evaluate your compliance with the hazardous waste regulations. The Hazardous Waste Checklist was developed by EH&S to help UW staff prepare for periodic hazardous waste inspections by the Department of Ecology, but it can be used at any time.

Contact

For further information please contact us using the table below:

Zone	Locations	Phone number
0	UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, "off-site locations"	206.685.2849
1	UW Seattle main campus from Benjamin Hall in the west, the UW Tower in the north and Urban Horticulture in the east (less Zone 4 buildings)	206.616.0587
2	UW Medical Center through D wing, including T wing and CHDD	206.616.0586
3	UW Seattle Health Sciences Building E wing through K wing, Hitchcock Hall, Foege, OCN, all south campus waterfront buildings east of 15th except CHDD	206.616.3200
4	Buildings that fall with the perimeter of NE Pacific St, 15th Ave, Grant Pl and Garfield including, but not limited to, Bagley, Molecular Engineering, Botany Greenhouse, and Physics/Astronomy complex	206.543.2931
5	Harborview Medical Center Complex	206.897.2116

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Yes, unless the material is still in its original manufactured container. All other containers used to accumulate hazardous waste or universal waste must have a completed label. Containers need to be labeled as soon as waste begins to be accumulated in them.

A correctly completed label is shown below.

hazardous waste label (22K)

Free labels are available at several locations on campus. These labels come in a booklets of 20 and are self-adhesive.

Biochemistry Stores
J014 Health Sciences Building
Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:15-12:00, 1:00-4:45
Last day of the month
8:15-12:00, 1:00-3:30

Chemistry Department Research Stockroom
036 Bagley Hall
Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:30-12:00, 1:00-4:30
Closed on UW employee holidays

You can also Contact Environmental Programs at 206.616.5835 if you would like us to send you some of these labels via campus mail.

You may also print out your own labels. You can either print and fill out or fill out and then print. We have two formats available:

Four paper Hazardous Waste labels. Cut to size and tape securely on your container (PDF format)
Six paper or adhesive Hazardous Waste labels Use Avery 5164 or equivalent label stock for stickers (Word format, "old style" label)

Before they become “waste-like.” "Waste-like" chemicals are items with faded labels, deteriorating containers, leaks and/or other obvious signs that the chemicals are not being used. Waste-like chemicals are not likely to be used in the future.

You can request collection of "waste-like" chemicals as hazardous waste. Regulatory staff conduct periodic inspections of laboratories and may assess fines for the presence of "waste-like" chemicals. These chemicals present an unreasonable risk of spills and exposures.

Legacy chemicals are unwanted chemicals left behind by a previous occupant of your laboratory space. Occupants moving out of a space have the responsibility of cleaning out the space, but unfortunately this doesn't always happen. You can request collection of legacy chemicals as hazardous waste. There is no charge for waste collection except for unknowns and unstable peroxide formers. See the EH&S Guidelines for Peroxide Forming Chemicals for more information.

If contents of the chemical container you want to get rid of are unknown to you, you can still request its disposal using our online system. Just list it as an “unknown.” We charge $75 per container to cover some of the cost of handling and disposing of these chemicals. Please include a budget name and number in the notes section of the collection request form.

If we can get enough knowledge about the generator, we may not have to charge for this waste. With that in mind, we will contact you requesting as much information as possible. We may ask you such things as what you think it might be, where the container was found, what kind of work the lab did; we may also ask you to take a picture and send it to us.

If you are relocating or cleaning out your workplace and have a large volume of chemical waste, here are some guidelines.

If you will have more than 100 containers of waste, call 206.616.5835 to arrange for a cleanout appointment at least one month in advance of your move.
Select the unwanted chemicals in your MyChem inventory and click on "Waste Collection" for easy disposal.

Any waste not in its original container must have a completed UW Hazardous Waste label. We will pick up the waste in two to four weeks after you request collection.

Finally, remember to update your chemical inventory with MyChem.

Refer to the Chemical Waste Guide for UW Facilities.