Hazardous waste

This all depends upon what you consider to be minute quantities. There is more to consider than simply blowing up the contractors van.

I’m not a chemical or expolsives expert but would suggest the following:

COSHH applies here and should help. Read the information on the HSE web site. You should already have a COSHH assessment for these substances. That should include a waste disposal route.

Look up your explosive in HSE’s document EH40 here http://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/table1.pdf That gives personal workplace exposure limits which you, or your waste contractor must not exceed.

Look up the current legislation regarding transportation of dangerous goods (I think it’s been revised recently). That gives threshold limits beyond which transporting a substance is considered dangerous. Then carry out a risk assessment to show there is no danger.

You could consider cleaning the glassware and then certifying it as safe. You will need to quantify or support that your procedure is adequate. This requires a standard operating procedure be followed. You must be able to show that procedure renders the glassware safe to handle eg by calculation of solubility rates or practical sampling.

You have to provide a statement to your waste contractor that the glassware is safe to handle. This must be supported by appropriate evidence such as that above.

The Explosives Industry Group http://www.eig.org.uk may be able to help.

Are you making the explosives or buying them? If they're purchased, as your supplier for guidance/help.

The worrying thing is that if you are using explosives, your users should be aware of most of the above.

Hope this helps.

Hello

Maybe not store in a large quantity eh.

Barry

I should have said of course if it is explosive waste by category, then it must be disposed of by a specialist contractor, which does not help you get value for money particularly as one small uni.

Interesting question, I can't answer it all for you as I'm not in to nuclear or bio-chemical safety for a job. Why not read up here http://www.laboratorytalk.com/news/bae/bae102.html

It could be as simple as keeping your own safe on-site receptacle until a certain quantity is obtained before a value for money collection can be made, or a crushing/cleaning machine that stores your glass in a safe, compact way until it is time for a hazardous waste contractor to call.

I would also ask other universities how they dispose of theirs. Why not set up a hub between you whereby tender a mini-competition for the glass disposal for a group of universities. You might have some better bargaining power if your contractors can see your plan is to have the same preferred supplier across a few universities rather than just the one.

Of course, I'm sure you are aware that some gases or materials are more volatile in a depleted container, separation of different types that may interact.

I work for a University, and we use explosives as part of what we do. We currently have some glassware which needs to be disposed of, which we believe presents very little risk as it has only been used with minute quantities of explosives, and would not explode even if you dropped a match inside one of the flasks. Our waste disposal company want to charge us £900 for disposal, and I think they are going OTT with this. Can anyone advise where I can find definitive guidance about this issue ? I have tried a general internet search, but am stumped. Any help would be very gratefully received !