Who this message is for: 

All members of the WCM community who generate hazardous chemical waste or radioactive waste.

What is happening:

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently changed hazardous waste regulatory policies for academic laboratories. The new rules aim to help generators improve their management of hazardous waste, as well as protect the environment. To comply with these updated federal regulations, Weill Cornell Medicine will implement new hazardous waste labeling procedures effective July 1, 2019. 

Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) has designed new labels for hazardous waste and hazardous radioactive waste, which include OSHA’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals(GHS) pictogram as hazard indicators. These new labels will replace the old yellow hazardous waste and hazardous radioactive waste labels. 

All faculty, students, staff, visitors, and contractors at WCM who generate hazardous waste must follow the new procedure for labeling waste containers.

What you need to do:

• Start using the new labels immediately after receiving them. Safety Advisors will distribute new red and white labels and provide additional information to each Weill Cornell Medicine lab in the coming weeks. You may also download and print fillable labels from the EHS website.
• Discard old labels. Once you receive the new labels, destroy all old yellow labels, or return them to EHS to ensure they are no longer used. 
• Follow the new labeling procedure. When completing labels, make sure to check the appropriate box(es) indicating the hazard(s) associated with each component. Detailed labeling instructions are available on the EHS website. 

Contact us:

For more information on the new labeling policies, or on the management and disposal of hazardous waste, please visit the EHS website. 

If you have any questions or need additional labels, please contact EHS at 646-962-7233 or ehs@med.cornell.edu.