The University of Georgia Chemical Waste Disposal Program

The University of Georgia recognizes that laboratory waste may have adverse effects on the environment. A university-wide program has been directed at reducing the improper storage and disposal of toxic chemical wastes. The program extensively utilizes the Code of Federal Regulations 49, Transportation Parts 100 and 199. This code serves as a guide for the packaging and disposal, in an approved commercial burial site, of the waste chemicals generated at the university. The chemical waste program at the University of Georgia is effective, relatively inexpensive, and requires minimal manpower. The need for adequate and appropriate hazardous waste disposal is demonstrated by the fact that probably only 10% of waste material considered hazardous by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (ignitable, corrosive, reactive or toxic) is disposed of in a manner consistent with proposed federal regulations (7 ) . By varying estimates, there are from 800 (8) to 34,000 (7) potentially harmful disposal sites in the United States. Nearly 70,000 commercial chemical substances are manufactured or processed in up to 115,000 establishments nationwide (6). This production results in an estimated 35 million metric tons of hazardous waste annually (8). Although the quantities of hazardous chemical waste generated by multidisciplinary research at universities and colleges is small, the potential damage to health and the environ-