The Office of Environment, Health & Safety believes in the minimization of all wastes so we have developed the Hazardous Waste Minimization Program on campus.
The objective of this program is to minimize the health hazards, environmental impacts associated, and costs with the disposal of hazardous waste.
Waste minimization is accomplished by establishing both administrative and operational procedures. Below are some general guidelines to assist in waste minimization.
Use surplus supplies when possible, check out our Surplus Program to obtain free chemicals.
Surplus Chemical Redistribution Program
Buy only the quantities you need for your project.
- When possible if paint or other materials are left over, see if someone else can use them before disposing of them.
Establish a centralized purchasing program for your area to monitor chemical purchases and avoid duplicate orders.
When ordering chemicals, be aware of any properties that may preclude long term storage.
Use supplies who can provide quick delivery of small quantities.
Promote sharing among common users.
Rotate chemical stock to keep chemicals form becoming outdated.
Locate surplus/unused chemicals- attempt to redistribute unused chemicals to other users through the Surplus Chemical Redistribution Program.
Attempt to return unused gas cylinders to vendor.
Review experimental protocols to assure hazardous materials are used efficiently and purchases are kept to a minimum.
- Conduct microscale research to minimize the amount of hazardous materials handled and generated
Substitute out hazardous materials for safer alternatives when feasible for example:
- Water based paint instead of oil based paint
- SYBR® Nucleic Acid Stains EZ-Vision® GelRedTM & GelGreenTM instead of EtBr
- UCLA Mercury Thermometer Exchange Program
Instead of wet chemical techniques, use instrumental methods - these generally require smaller amounts of chemicals.
Consider using off-site analytical services.
Reuse spent solvent for initial cleaning, use fresh solvent only for final rinse.
Substitute specialty detergents for sulfuric acid/chromic acid cleaning solutions. Distill and reuse solvents.
Avoid mixing hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
Review literature for additional techniques applicable to your particular processes.
