Disposal of Chemical Wastes : We shall deal with some commonly occurring chemical wastes. If you need to know more details covering the disposal of a wide range of chemicals, you are advised to get for your library the book, Hazards in Chemical Laboratory, edited by L. Bretherick (4th edition published by Royal Society of Chemistry, London in 1986).
While dealing with chemical waste, you should keep in mind the safety of yourself and other inmates of the laboratory. Consider that a toxic waste is thrown carelessly into the dust bin. Will it not be harmful to the sweeper who cleans the dust bin? Also flammable, volatile and water-immiscible liquid wastes can cause accumulation of flammable vapours in the drainage. In order to dispose of chemical waste safely, you must be aware of the contents of the chemical waste, and its nature.
Shut off all possible source of ignition while dealing with flammable waste, and use the appropriate method as mentioned below.
We shall discuss various methods of
1) first removing the bulk of the chemical waste and , then
2) treating the site of spillage for removing its traces.
We shall limit our discussion to the disposal of chemical wastes occurring in small quantities.
Removing the bulk of the chemical waste from the spillage site