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.

Read the instructions How to Label Chemical Waste Containers to find out how to comply with hazardous waste labeling requirements.

Request a one-time chemical waste collection

To request a chemical waste collection, submit your request one of two ways:

Use the Online Chemical Waste Collection Request form, or
Submit a request in MyChem.

If you have a chemical waste routine number, enter it in the Routine Chemical Waste Collection Request form.

Set up a new routine chemical waste collection

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

To set up a routine pickup, complete a Request New Chemical Waste Routine form.
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.

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.

If some of the items on your collection request are non-regulated and can be legally disposed to the trash or sanitary sewer, you will be notified by the staff member that collects your chemical waste.

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.

Review the hazardous waste definitions and classifications in the Chemical Waste Management section of the Laboratory Safety Manual.

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 and a second Hazardous Waste label indicating the primary hazard as appropriate (see FAQs below or refer to How to Label Chemical Waste Containers).
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 - see the Chemical Waste Management section of the Laboratory Safety Manual).
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.

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 EH&S at 206.616.5835.

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

Call 206.616.5835 with questions about hazardous chemical waste disposal.

Frequently asked questions

EH&S needs the information you provide in the Chemical Waste Collection Request for safety, legal, and logistical reasons.

Safety: Knowing the potential hazards associated with each container allows EH&S staff to prepare for safely evaluating, handling, transporting, and storing chemicals prior to disposal.

Legal: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, and Washington State Department of Ecology regulations require us to accurately designate the contents of each container so it can be transported legally and disposed of properly by applying the correct hazardous waste codes and treatment standards.

Logistical: We need to know in advance what’s inside the containers to be sure we don’t pick up anything that can’t be transported or disposed of. We also need to know how many containers there are, and the type(s) and size(s) of containers to ensure we have the correct number of transport tubs and space in the vehicle.

Please review the labeling and storage requirements (i.e., waste accumulation rules) on the Chemical Waste Disposal webpage before submitting a collection request.

You can submit a chemical waste collection request by using the Online Chemical Waste Collection Request form, or by submitting a request in MyChem.

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

Inventory owners and area contacts can generate chemical waste disposal requests in MyChem. You can:

Select chemicals from your inventory
Add chemicals to the waste list that were not in your inventory
Add process waste or a mixture of chemicals in a carboy or drum
Add spill debris or other mixtures of debris and chemical

1. From the inventory page, select the Waste Collection button. You'll see your inventory appear.

2. If the items for disposal are in your chemical inventory, select them using the checkboxes and then Save List. The next page is a list of the chemicals you want collected. Edit the list as needed. You can remove or add additional chemical waste before submitting the final list to EH&S via the Submit Report to EH&S button.

3. If the items are not in your inventory or not yet on your waste list, use the Add New Waste Chemical button to make additions to the list of waste. You will go through the process of searching for each chemical in the container, indicating a percentage of each. When all chemicals in the container add up to 100%, you will be asked for container information including type and volume/weight information. Save to get the new waste container added to your list. The next page displays the list of waste that you want collected. Edit and add to the list before submitting the report to EH&S.

3. The Add Comment button allows you to add a note about the specific location of the waste or access to the area. Do this step before submitting the report to EH&S.

4. Once a report has been submitted, use the View Past Reports button to view it. If the waste is consistently generated, consider naming the report, so you easily reuse it for future waste collection requests. Use the Recreate List button to call-up a previously submitted waste list for edits and re-submission.

UW Hazardous Waste Labels are available at no charge at the following 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

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 UW Hazardous Waste Labels, either by printing the labels and filling them out, or by filling out the labels first and then printing.

Refer to the instructions How to Label Chemical Waste Containers for more information about labeling hazardous waste containers.

Get rid of unused chemicals 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. Refer to 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, follow these 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