Chemical Waste Disposal

You can request for EHS to review the chemical waste to determine if it is approved for drain or trash disposal or manage the chemical waste as a hazardous waste.

This area can be a small section of a chemical hood, bench top, cabinet or any combination depending on storage requirements.

Secondary containment could be a bin or tray which is utilized to store containers of hazardous chemical waste. The bin or tray would contain the waste chemicals in the event of a spill and must be large enough to contain the contents of the largest container.

A Chemical Waste Satellite Accumulation Area (CWSAA) is the area where chemical wastes are stored prior to EHS collection. The CWSAA must be at or near the point where the waste is created (e.g., within the laboratory). This area can be a small section of a chemical hood, bench top, cabinet or any combination depending on storage requirements. Certain requirements must be met to maintain this designation. More information can be found at the Chemical Waste Satellite Accumulation Area Signs page of the EHS website.

A chemical waste generator is anyone who possesses a chemical (e.g., unused, spent, samples, etc.) which they no longer need and want to dispose.

Self-adhesive hazardous waste labels printed by Environmental Health and Safety should be used for all chemical waste containers. Contact EHS for labels free of charge.

The contact name and the full chemical names of all the waste constituents must be written on the label utilizing permanent ink. Abbreviations, chemical nomenclature and molecular formulas are not acceptable means for identifying the constituents of the waste container.

Empty containers of acutely toxic hazardous waste containers may still contain residual amounts of the acutely toxic chemical and as such cannot be disposed in the normal trash. Submit a Chemical Collection Request Form via the EHS website for the disposal of these containers.

All laboratory personnel generating or working with chemical waste must complete laboratory safety training initially and annually thereafter. A component of the laboratory safety training covers appropriate chemical waste disposal procedures.

Hazardous waste requirements include assurances that chemical waste are:

• in an accumulation area close the point of generation
• in waste containers that are not leaking and are appropriately labeled
• stored in secondary containment and segregated so as to avoid incompatibility

For a more complete listing of requirements, see the "Chemical Waste Satellite Accumulation Areas Safety and Compliance Requirements" web page.

Contact Shipping & Receiving: (212) 746-1647 in order to coordinate the removal of the cylinder by the distributor. If original distributor is unknown, or you are unable to arrange collection by a distributor, contact EHS for assistance in arranging the removal of cylinders.

Waste containers must be properly sealed at all times, except for when wastes are being directed added to or removed from the container.

Surplus electronics are to be collected for recycling, and are not to be disposed of with normal trash. To request the collection of surplus electronics from off-site locations, submit an email to ehs@med.cornell.edu. Be sure to include your contact name and telephone number, building address and room number of pick-up location, type and quantity of surplus electronics to be collected, and any access restrictions and office hours. Additionally, refer to the  Surplus Electronics Recycling Update to ensure all other procedural requirements are met. There will be no charge to your department for the removal of surplus electronics for recycling.

Collection reservoirs (sumps, bottles, tanks, etc) that contain spent toner from photocopiers should be managed as hazardous waste and disposed of via Environmental Health and Safety. Complete a Chemical Collection Request Form to request a collection. There is no charge for this service.

All x-ray films, whether spent or unused, should be disposed of via Environmental Health and Safety using the Chemical Collection Request Form as they may contain silver, a regulated toxic heavy metal.

To discard old computers and computer-related equipment (e.g., printers, scanners, etc.) in the hospital, contact NYP Information Technology.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) no longer recommends disposing of unwanted medications by flushing them into the sewer system due to the negative effects on water quality and aquatic life. Instead, residents are encouraged to place unwanted pharmaceuticals in the trash, after disguising the outer container and/or mixing the medications with other refuse to make them irretrievable. This way, one is both preventing accidental or intentional misuse of these medications by children and teenagers in the home, and preventing negative impacts to the environment.

This topic is discussed in more detail in some very informative articles on the DEC's website at Safe Medication Disposal for Households

Information for New Jersey and Connecticut residents can be found at http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?Q=335480&A=2708 and http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dshw/rrtp/disposal.pdf.

If these bottles are empty, you can rinse the containers for reuse, or dispose of them in glass trash for glass containers and regular trash for plastic. Make sure to cross out any marking that may indicate that it is a hazardous waste.

If you have any questions as to what constitutes a p-listed, acutely toxic waste, please refer to the EHS  Waste Disposal Procedures manual, or contact Environmental Health and Safety: (646) 962-7233 or ehs@med.cornell.edu for assistance.