Simply throwing out hazardous materials in regular trash or pouring them down the drain could potentially harm lives and endanger the environment. Lab pack waste disposal done correctly will keep people safe as well as the environment. Not only is it important to properly handle lab pack disposal to reduce risk to humans, animals, and the environment, it is a state and federal regulation.
Importance of Proper Lab Pack Waste Disposal
State and federal regulations require all generators of chemical waste to follow strict disposal procedures and implement waste management in their facility. Failing to follow these regulations puts your facility at risk for possible fines and penalties.
Laboratory waste management is important as labs generate infectious, hazardous, and other types of dangerous waste that can impact the lives of those in your facility and community as well as the environment. Through the use of a lab pack service, your facility can safely dispose of these hazardous materials and ensure you comply with all complex laws surrounding the procedure.
Turnkey lab pack services allow trained waste management professionals to come on-site and identify, segregate, pack, transport, and dispose of all your unused, and unneeded chemical waste materials. These services offer you peace of mind knowing your hazardous materials are being safely and properly disposed of.
What is a Lab Pack?
A lab pack service is used by any industry that tends to generate chemical waste, especially laboratories as it is a cost-effective option for disposing of hazardous chemicals off-site.
Chemical waste lab pack services are the proper packaging of expired, out-of-date, or damaged chemicals used in your laboratory’s daily productions. These materials are typically in small quantities and are placed in containers that can be packed into larger ones. The larger containers are typically a 55-gallon drum.
The smaller containers of chemical waste are carefully sorted and then padded with an inert material so they can be transported safely and then disposed of. The sorting process is so chemicals are packed with those that are similar to each other, such as oxidizers, flammables, or acids.
Lab Pack Waste Disposal
Once a hazardous waste management facility, such as Environmental Marketing Services receives the lab pack, further consolidation of the substances and chemicals is performed to determine the best possible course of disposal. Depending on the characteristics of the chemicals, the lab pack wastes can be recycled, put into a landfill, incinerated, or specially treated.
Chemical Waste Treatment
Chemical waste treatment is the process of reducing its hazardous nature through the use of specific chemicals such as reducers, oxidizers, acids, bases, etc.
Chemical Waste Incineration
Chemical waste incineration is the process of burning materials at temperatures set high enough to destroy all contaminants. This process is done in an incinerator, or furnace designed for burning hazardous substances in a combustion chamber.
Chemical Recycling
Chemical recycling is taking a hazardous secondary substance and using it for energy recovery. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations allow the reclamation and reuse of useful material in a method that is protective and safe for human health and the environment.
Hazardous Waste Stabilization and Landfill
Stabilization and solidification are a group of cleanup methods to slow or prevent the release of harmful chemicals from hazardous waste, such as contaminated sludge, sediment, or soil. A hazardous waste landfill is one adjoining land and structures on land that is used for the transfer, treatment, storage, resource recovery, disposal, or recycling of hazardous waste materials.
Separation of Materials in Lab Pack Waste Disposal
A professional with the proper qualifications is needed when separating materials in lab pack waste disposal. This professional needs to understand how chemicals react if they become mixed during the disposal process or storage. Reactions of chemicals can become a perilous situation and if compounds are not separated properly and a container leaks or becomes broken, it will allow the waste to mix.
There could be serious consequences or health endangerments to those handling the waste if any mixture of waste materials occurs. An absorbent material has to be added for protection against leakage or breakage during transport.
What Type of Materials Can Be In Lab Pack Disposal?
Some of the common materials placed in a lab pack for disposal include:
- Solvents
- Oxidizers
- Compressed gasses and aerosols
- Explosive, pyrophoric, corrosive, flammable, or toxic
- Reagents, bases, acids
- Radioactive materials, including those from metals
- Disinfecting and cleaning agents
- TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act) chemicals
- Chemical reagents
- Mixed waste
- Universal waste
- Organic peroxides
- Varnish strippers, paint thinners, paints, dyes, inks
- DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) substances
- Unlabeled or unknown containers
Federal guidelines contain different shipping names, packing groups, and hazard classes for hazardous waste. Through the use of a lab pack service, such as Environmental Marketing Service, your facility will ensure packing of these materials is done correctly. Packing certain chemicals together can be highly dangerous. This process should only be completed by a highly trained professional.
Through the use of turnkey lab pack service, such as Environmental Marketing Service, your chemical waste will be identified, categorized, packaged, transported, and disposed of properly. These on-site services allow you to continue with daily business management with the assurance your chemical waste removal is being handled safely, and effectively and follows all regulations.
How a Turnkey Lab Pack Service is Beneficial
A turnkey lab pack service provided by Environmental Marketing Services is a cost-effective, reliable, and beneficial solution for all your laboratory chemical waste. This on-site lab pack service comes to your facility and properly disposes of your waste. The complete disposal procedure is handled by trained professionals from the beginning of the process all the way through to the end.
Industries That Benefit From Lab Pack Service
There are a number of industries that use unstable chemicals that become hazardous after use. Even though labs are often looked at as large research facilities or ones that perform development functions, a lot of labs are smaller operations within a larger organization, such as medical facilities or warehouses.
These facilities work with hazardous chemicals or have unused and leftover substances that require proper disposal methods. A lab pack service, such as those offered by Environmental Marketing Service, are an effective, cost-saving, and safe disposal method for your facility to legally get rid of bulk chemical waste.
These are a few industries that can benefit from lab pack service:
Schools/Universities/Colleges
The educational sector is affected by lab decommissioning. From the collegiate academic research labs to the high school chemistry lab, these facilities can contain flammable, poisonous, corrosive, and reactive chemicals. At the end of a school year, lab packaging chemicals is the safest and best process for schools to dispose of their hazardous waste.
Manufacturing
From the furniture to the textile manufacturing facilities, there is always some type of hazardous waste generated. Some of the hazardous substances used in this industry include a combination of chemicals or flammable paints. Talk to the experts at Environmental Marketing Services to learn how your facility can legally, safely, and affordably get rid of hazardous waste with lab-pack waste disposal.
Hospitals/Medical Clinics
Medical clinics and especially hospitals generate a variety of hazardous waste materials. From chemical waste and sharp objects to pathological wastes and infectious materials. Medical facilities generate a unique set of hazardous waste. Lab packs allow medical facilities to safely dispose of large quantities of hazardous waste materials produced daily.
Environmental Marketing Services provides these industries and others, such as law enforcement, government, consumer products and retail and many more with environmentally responsible waste management. Contact one of our knowledgeable professionals to learn about our comprehensive services that will be tailored to your needs.