Disposal Information
The person responsible for waste management activities on campus will certainly find this section important so the university can stay within the law when removing the chemical from on-sight. However, the lab worker using the reagent should also be aware of disposal aspects of the chemical so he/she does not inadvertently dispose of the waste in an improper manner.
This section usually contains information on special disposal methods and waste managements options like recycling. Also included are limitations directed by Federal, state, or local governments. Other important listings are government waste classifications like RCRA (ignitable waste[I]; corrosive waste[C], reactive waste[R], toxicity characteristic waste[E], acute hazardous waste[H], and toxic waste[T]) and EPA identification numbers and descriptions. This information is necessary for the waste manager to stay within the law when disposing of chemical waste. If a wrong EPA ID number is used when a chemical is removed from campus, the result could be very costly.
An example of this occurred when a university in Ohio had a licensed waste removal company come on campus and remove their hazardous waste. The company put an incorrect EPA waste identification on one of the waste container that contained two bottles of the same chemical. The container was landfilled according to the appropriate methods for that EPA waste ID. Two years later, the EPA, while checking the manifest for that particular waste removal, discovered that the ID was wrong and the chemical should never have been placed in a landfill. EPA imposed a fine of $10,000 per day for each bottle for the length of time that container had been landfilled along with the cost of recovering the container from the landfill. Remember, CERCLA holds the generator of a waste responsible forever if cleanup is required. The university had to pay dearly for a mistake actually committed by a contracted waste removal company.
The disposal section of Methylene chloride MSDS and Bromine MSDS are short and do not give any special instructions. However, the important EPA hazardous waste numbers are given, (methylene chloride - U080 (toxic waste); bromine - D001 and D002).