Chemical waste that meets the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) definition of hazardous waste must be managed in compliance with the NYSDEC hazardous waste regulations and federal EPA regulations. Chemical waste that does not meet the definition of hazardous waste can also be collected through Rensselaer's regulated waste program.
Does your group generate waste that has biohazards AND chemical hazards? STOP and reach out to EHS for guidance specific to your waste stream.
Chemical Waste Guidelines:
- Choose appropriate container for your waste stream
- Consider material compatibility, solid or liquid waste, sharps concerns, etc.
- Use Hazardous Waste Labels to identify waste container contents
- If reusing bottles for waste, remove or completely deface manufacturer's labels
- Only use RPI Hazardous Waste Labels, do not create your own labels
- Store waste per Chemical Hygiene Plan guidelines
- Keep waste containers closed when not actively accumulating waste
- Store waste in secondary containment
- Segregate incompatible materials
- Submit a Regulated Waste Pick-Up Request form
- Our vendor will collect the waste from its point of generation
- Remove chemical containers from your RMM inventory as needed
Visit the Regulated Waste Disposal Process and the Regulated Waste Accumulation Management pages for more detailed guidelines on container selection, labels, waste storage, and maintaining your chemical inventory.
EHS works with our regulated waste vendor and individual labs to characterize waste correctly for disposal. It starts with our on-campus partners accurately labeling every container with its contents. EHS uses the categories below to determine if your waste meets the regulatory definition of a hazardous waste.
Categories of Regulated Hazardous Waste
- Ignitable
- Liquids that have a flash point less than 140°F (60°C)
- Flammable solids
- Flammable compressed gases
- Oxidizers
- Corrosive
- Aqueous Solutions with pH less than 2 or greater than 12.5
- Corrodes steel
- Reactive
- Water reactive substances
- Unstable or explosive under normal conditions or when heated
- Chemicals with the potential to generate toxic gases
- Toxic
- Materials that have certain heavy metals or organic constituents above regulatory limits
- Materials that meet or exceed regulatory limits based on TCLP laboratory testing
Listed wastes are defined by the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in part 261.
- Hazardous waste from nonspecific sources (F list)
- Hazardous waste from specific sources (K List)
- Discarded commercial chemical products, off-specification species, container residues, and spill residues thereof (P List and U List)
More information on these waste streams and the full list of waste codes can be found on the EPA website.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regulations identify all solid wastes containing 50 parts per million (ppm) by weight (on a dry weight basis for other than liquid wastes) or greater of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as hazardous wastes.
All materials contaminated with PCBs must be disposed of through RPI's regulated waste program.
If you have questions about regulated waste, please email hazwaste@rpi.edu.
