Issues on Academic Laboratory Wastes

Individuals generating the hazardous waste are often students, who:

-are more difficult to train
-lack the expertise & accountability of a professional workforce
Hazardous waste generation pattern is different than in industrial sites.
In a laboratory set-up, hundreds of different hazardous wastes vary over time. Thus, small
amounts of each hazardous wastes are generated. In addition, academic set-up indicates
many points of generation.
It is very difficult to make accurate Hazardous waste determinations at the point of
generation.
Finding a cost-effective way to dispose hazardous wastes generated by laboratories.
-Although academic laboratories generate only about 1% of hazardous wastes produced
nationwide, they must abide by the same stringent regulations as those imposed upon the
industrial plants. Although commercial disposal firms make their money hauling away
waste by the truckload, most of them cannot--or simply don't want to--deal with such a
small and complex waste stream of hazardous wastes generated in laboratories.

Sources:
EPA. Comparing the Academic Laboratories Rule to the Satellite Accumulation Area
Regulations.
Hazardous Waste Disposal: An Offal Problem For Laboratories. http://www.the-
scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/11575/title/Hazardous-Waste-Disposal--An-Offal-
Problem-For-Laboratories/