Chemical waste and disposal of contaminated equipment

Chemical waste

Please call us to make an appointment if you want to dispose of chemical waste. We do not accept drop-ins.

Old Chemicals are accepted in original undamaged packaging.

Before handing them over, please make sure to check the following:

  1. Is there anything left in the containers?

  2. Does whatever is in the containers really classify as chemical waste? Please note that silica gel, for instance, and other similar substances may be disposed of with other absorbing matter.

  3. Can the chemical substance be assigned to one of the more common waste groups? If so, it should be disposed of as such, e.g. as a solvent containing no halogens.

  4. If possible, please destroy or neutralise smal quantities of chemical waste yourself as per the regulations (see “Organikum” or the DGUV brochure “Sicherheit im chemischen Hochschulpraktikum”, ch. 5).

  5. The containers must be correctly labelled, the writing must be clearly legible. If they are not, the labels must be replaced. (see “Gefahrstoffverordnung” (hazardous materials directive), “Allg. Laborordnung” of the University of Konstanz (general laboratory regulations) and “Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz” (law on the promotion of sustainable waste management)

  6. a) Your chemical waste must be included in the DaMaRIS database for hazardous materials. Enter manufactured chemical mixtures as described in the manufacturer’s safety data sheet.

    b) Before disposing of chemical waste, please copy the corresponding entries into your research team’s virtual inventory room in DaMaRIS. This means that there will then be two entries for each of the chemicals marked for disposal:

    - one entry in the research team’s room, where the chemicals are kept until they are disposed of and

    - another entry in the team’s virtual room.

    (Please note: Your research team’s rooms are labelled using a combination of the room number and its description, e.g. “lab”. The corresponding virtual room has the label: “XXX: hazardous waste name of research team”. XXX is a three-digit number).

    c) After you have copied the respective entries into your research team’s virtual inventory room, print out this list with the following information: substance name, CAS number, chemical formula, storage class, quantity, number and kind of container(s). Please also include the date, your lab and office phone numbers, as well as your name (legible) and signature on the printout. Bring the printout with you when you drop off your chemicals for disposal. Please make an appointment with Ms Gudrun von Scheven to drop off the chemicals.

    d) At this point, you may no longer change the entries for your virtual room. This means, you may neither add additional substances nor delete existing entries. (You would otherwise have to make new entries for all of the chemicals you plan to dispose of). From this point onwards, this list may only be edited by members of the hazardous waste team.

    e) We will update and delete items from your virtual list as we process, sort and accept your chemicals for disposal.

    f) It is important that you remember to delete or update the respective entries in DaMaRIS for your research team’s rooms after the hazardous substances have been physically delivered to the "Sonderabfalllager".
  7. If you want to dispose of larger quantities of used chemicals (more than 20 containers), please deliver them to us in several instalments.

The hazardous waste team is not responsible for:

  • Disposing of empty containers.
  • Transferring chemicals from damaged containers to new ones.
  • Entering previously unregistered chemicals into the hazardous materials database DaMaRIS.
  • Checking the contents of abandoned and/or unlabelled containers. Please note that if your waste includes unknown or improperly labelled substances, you are in violation of the “Gefahrstoffverordnung”. It is the waster producer’s responsibility to ascertain the contents and to keep them labelled properly.

   
Documentation: DaMaRIS list
Declaration: as per the “Sicherheitsdatenblatt” (safety data sheet) *)

*) You do not need to hand in a declaration on chemicals still in their original wrappings and including a clearly legible label.

 

Disposal of contaminated equipment

Equipment and apparatuses contaminated with hazardous materials can be disposed of at the “Sonderabfallsammelstelle” (hazardous waste collection point).

   
Documentation: Contaminated equipment
Blank Altgeräteentsorgung

If your equipment contains radioactive substances, please contact Dr Norbert Kunze (room M 603, +49 7531 88 -2007).