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Multi-Hazard or Combined Waste

Definition:
Waste with multiple types of hazardous constituents including contamination with radioactive waste and either infectious agents or hazardous chemicals or both.

 

Examples:

  • Aqueous radioactive wastes with trace levels of chloroform or toxic heavy metals
  • Radioactive methanol/acetic acid solutions from HPLC or gel rinse procedures
  • Spent cocktail from continuous liquid scintillation counting
  • Radioactive trichloracetic acid solutions from protein precipitations
  • Phenol/chloroform mixtures used to extract DNA from radiolabeled cells
  • Spent chromic acid from critical cleaning of contaminated glassware contaminated with radioactive materials
  • Vacuum pump oil contaminated with radioactive materials
  • Chemical or radioactive wastes containing blood products

Do not combine incompatible chemicals such as strong oxidizers with organic compounds.

 

Do not autoclave multi-hazard or mixed wastes.

 
Packaging Guidelines
General Instructions:
  1. Avoid generating mixed or multi-hazard waste. Prior to generating multi-hazard or mixed waste, contact the Environmental Compliance Manager ((301) 405-3163) for minimization techniques.
  2. If generation of mixed waste is unavoidable:
    • Keep volume to a minimum
    • Keep aqueous and organic waste separate
    • Do not combine reactive chemicals such as strong oxidizers with organic compounds
    • Keep solid and liquid wastes separate
    • Keep short half-life (<30 days) isotopes separate from longer half-life isotopes
  3. Identify all constituents - see Chemical Waste, Radioactive Waste and Biological Waste sections for required tags and markings
If Disposing: Then:
Waste containing an Infectious agent and Radioactive material
  1. Seek advice from the Biological Safety Officer, as needed, before implementing inactivation procedures.
  2. Inactivate the infectious waste and dispose of the waste as Radioactive Waste according to the Radioactive Waste section.
  3. Follow the general instructions in the Radioactive Waste section for removal of the container.
Waste containing an Infectious agent and a Hazardous chemical
  1. Seek advice from the Biological Safety Officer, as needed, before implementing inactivation procedures.
  2. Inactivate the infectious agent and dispose of the waste as Chemical Waste according to the Chemical Waste section.
  3. Follow the general instructions in the Chemical Waste section for removal of the container.
Waste containing an Infectious agent, Radioactive material, and a Hazardous chemical
  1. Seek advice from the Biological Safety Officer, as needed, before implementing the inactivation procedures.
  2. Inactivate the infectious agent.
  3. Affix a "UMD Hazardous Waste" tag and a "Caution - Radioactive Material" tag to the waste container. Consult the Chemical and Radioactive Waste sections for packaging guidelines.
  4. Dispose of the waste container according to the Radioactive Waste section.
Mixture of Chemical and Radioactive wastes
  1. Affix a "UMD Hazardous Waste" tag and a "Caution - Radioactive Material" tag to the waste container. Consult the Chemical and Radioactive Waste sections for packaging guidelines.
  2. Dispose of the waste container according to the Radioactive Waste section guidelines.

 

Multi-Hazard or Combined Waste
Assistance (301) 405-3990
Pick-up

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