Hazardous Waste Reduction Program

UW EH&S has a Hazardous Waste Reduction program to reduce the volume of hazardous waste we dispose of as well as lower disposal costs. Here are some examples of what we do:

Xylene is used in many biological and medical laboratories. We collect and distill roughly 500 to 600 gallons of it a year. We then sell it back to the generators for REUSE - for less than 10% of the cost of new xylene. (We could do the same with acetone, but it's so cheap we don't get the same demand for recycled acetone.)

Photographic fixer from darkrooms and xrays contains silver, which is toxic. We collect fixer and filter the silver out. We RECYCLE the silver and safely pour the rest down the sink.

We encourage new and old xray facilities and photography units to "go digital" so that they REDUCE their use of fixer that contains toxic silver. And we're looking into safe alternatives for solvents and other toxic chemicals. And we keep an eye out for any equipment that still uses mercury, and we encourage users to switch over to mercury-free thermometers, switches and instruments.