INTRODUCTION TO HANDLING CHEMICAL WASTES

Preview This section describes the basic guidelines for how to handle chemical wastes that are generated in academic laboratories. 

Pogo (a comic strip character, 1948-1975) by Walt Kelly  

What lessons can be learned from this incident  

You may be reading this section fairly early in your college experience, and this may seem odd since we have located this section in Chapter 8 of the book. Logically, it is near the end of the book since so many other sections are about how to function safely during experiments while handling waste is usually at the end of an experiment. However, since you will likely be generating some kind of laboratory waste during your first lab experiment this is a topic that needs to be addressed early on in your lab experience. 

however, most students in chemistry labs might quickly and appropriately wonder if it s safe to put this stuff into the sink or trash can and that is an appropriate concern. This section will introduce the basic principles of how to process wastes generated in academic labs. Section 8.3.4 will extend this discussion considerably by presenting the guidelines for processing wastes from research labs and industrial labs. 

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Introduction Chemical reactivity is the tendency of substances to undergo chemical change. A chemical reactivity hazard is a situation with the potential for an uncontrolled chemical reaction that can result directly or indirectly in serious harm to people, property, or the environment. A chemical reaction can get out of control whenever the reaction environment is not able to safely absorb the energy and products released by the reaction. The possibility of such situations should be anticipated not only in the reaction step of chemical processes but also in storage, mixing, physical processing, purification, waste treatment, environmental control systems, and any other areas where reactive materials are handled or reactive interactions are possible. 

Section 8.1.1 presented an introduction to the issue of handling academic lab wastes in undergraduate, course-related laboratories. Mostly, the instructions in academic labs are to dispose of the waste in the appropriate container, which necessitates that someone else will appropriately process the waste. Section 8.1.1 also discussed many reasons to be mindful of chemical wastes so as to be environmentally responsible, cost-conscious, and safe. 

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