Can some one suggest industry guidelines on disposal methods for expired chemicals? Is there any complience requirement to ISO14001 considering "handling of expired chemicals" till it is safely disposed?
Chemicals used in the laboratory to analyse effluent water chemistry ( for scaling ions and corrosive elements) are considered for disposal after its expiry date is reached. "Safe storage" is a factor of concern till its being disposed off. Since most of the reagents used in water analysis are quite stable we do not expect it becoming "hazardous" within short period after expiry. Solvents having such properties needs more attention. Need expert advice on this.
Thanks.
Expiry of chemicals of hazardous type naturally takes the hazardous position. I believe your question is related to the expiry of chemicals of non-hazardous nature. Chemicals used for the analytical works could be the blend of hazardous and non-hazardous type. It is better to check the maximum concentration of contaminants for its toxicity characteristics. Given the uncertainty of resultant product from the mixing of constituent chemicals, it is environmentally good to treat the expired chemicals as hazardous waste.
Not necessarily if the shelf life period can be extended after a proper quality analysis other wise consider as hazardous waste and disposed according the procedure. US EPA hazardous waste classification from Net
Expired chemicals naturally changed in hazardous position. please see attached files i am sure it will be helpful for you.
Expired chemicals are considered hazardous waste
Hazardous chemicals come n 9 classes 1 thru 9 (class 1-explosive, Class 2-gases, Class3 -Flammable liquids, Class4-flammable solids, Class 5-oxidizers, Class 6-toxic items, Class 7-radio active, Class8-corrosive, Class9-Miscellaneous)
When the chemical you brought was in which class don't change much still have the same properties but so it may have changed rendering it unusable for the purpose so it must disposed as hazardous . A chemical which don't have any the class property mentioned above may be considered inert only after leachate test.
Follow standard procedure for Hazardous waste handling and disposal for your organization
Thank you all for your replies. It really helped solving the hazardous waste management.
I think all non-biodegradable substances are dangerous substances.
Expired chemicals are very dangerous because their active ingredients would have broken down and any analysis such expired chemicals are used for will lead to wrong experimental results and large degree of experimental error. Besides,exposure of such chemicals may cause damage to the bodies of people, cause environmental pollution ,and can explode causing fire outbreak .I suggest that constant checking of expiry dates should be carried out to seperate expired chemicals from the store and good disposal technigues must be carried to avoid polltion of water bodies with the assistance ofsafety and health officials
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