Waste Disposal Guidelines

Multi-Hazard or Combined Waste

Definition:
Waste with multiple types of hazardous constituents including contamination with radioactive waste and either infectious agents or hazardous chemicals or both.

Examples:

Aqueous radioactive wastes with trace levels of chloroform or toxic heavy metals
Radioactive methanol/acetic acid solutions from HPLC or gel rinse procedures
Spent cocktail from continuous liquid scintillation counting
Radioactive trichloracetic acid solutions from protein precipitations
Phenol/chloroform mixtures used to extract DNA from radiolabeled cells
Spent chromic acid from critical cleaning of contaminated glassware contaminated with radioactive materials
Vacuum pump oil contaminated with radioactive materials
Chemical or radioactive wastes containing blood products

Do not combine incompatible chemicals such as strong oxidizers with organic compounds.

Do not autoclave multi-hazard or mixed wastes.


Packaging Guidelines

General Instructions:	Avoid generating mixed or multi-hazard waste. Prior to generating multi-hazard or mixed waste, contact the Environmental Compliance Manager ((301) 405-3163) for minimization techniques. If generation of mixed waste is unavoidable: Keep volume to a minimum Keep aqueous and organic waste separate Do not combine reactive chemicals such as strong oxidizers with organic compounds Keep solid and liquid wastes separate Keep short half-life (<30 days) isotopes separate from longer half-life isotopes Identify all constituents - see Chemical Waste, Radioactive Waste and Biological Waste sections for required tags and markings

If Disposing:	Then:

Waste containing an Infectious agent and Radioactive material	Seek advice from the Biological Safety Officer, as needed, before implementing inactivation procedures. Inactivate the infectious waste and dispose of the waste as Radioactive Waste according to the Radioactive Waste section. Follow the general instructions in the Radioactive Waste section for removal of the container.

Waste containing an Infectious agent and a Hazardous chemical	Seek advice from the Biological Safety Officer, as needed, before implementing inactivation procedures. Inactivate the infectious agent and dispose of the waste as Chemical Waste according to the Chemical Waste section. Follow the general instructions in the Chemical Waste section for removal of the container.

Waste containing an Infectious agent, Radioactive material, and a Hazardous chemical	Seek advice from the Biological Safety Officer, as needed, before implementing the inactivation procedures. Inactivate the infectious agent. Affix a "UM Hazardous Waste" tag and a "Caution - Radioactive Material" tag to the waste container. Consult the Chemical and Radioactive Waste sections for packaging guidelines. Dispose of the waste container according to the Radioactive Waste section.

Mixture of Chemical and Radioactive wastes	Affix a "UM Hazardous Waste" tag and a "Caution - Radioactive Material" tag to the waste container. Consult the Chemical and Radioactive Waste sections for packaging guidelines. Dispose of the waste container according to the Radioactive Waste section guidelines.

Multi-Hazard or Combined Waste
Assistance (301) 405-3990
Pick-up

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