Advantages of DOT Segregation for Storage of Waste Chemicals at UW-Madison Luke Hendricks & Troy Vannieuwenhoven

 3,200+ research labs  Over $1 billion per year in research grants  42,000 students  16,000+ faculty  Hospital  Veterinary school  12 Agriculture Research Stations

 5 Waste Management employees  $200,000 annual budget  Weekly lab visits for chemical pickups  Shipped last year:  27,800 lbs of labpacks  128,200 lbs of solvents

Old Way  Only 1 person doing segregation  Inventory was by each individual container  Minimum 5 day labpack  Segregate by:  Waste vs Redristribution  Waste: » Organic vs Inorganic » Functional groups » Acids/bases

New Way  Segregate by:  DOT hazard classes & packing groups  Vendor’s own special provisions  Multiple people can segregate  New inventory kept for each 90 day shipment

Why Switch?  Cost  Safety  Simplified storage & layout of facility  Ease of segregation & inventorying

Cost  Saves time & labor during labpacks  Pre-segregated for vendor  Inventory list sent to vendor prior to their arrival  Unknown identification/reactives expense  Do our own identification of unknowns & stabilizations of reactives o Results: o Shortened labpack by 1-2 days o Saves roughly $6,000 per year in labor

Safety  Chemicals now stored according to more specific compatibility  DOT hazard classes and compatibility groups  Full inventory of chemicals to be labpacked  Communication to emergency responders the hazards regarding chemicals currently being stored

Mercury & Mercury compounds shelves

Simplified storage & layout  Better utilization of storage space  Vented cabinets & shelves for smelly, volatile, and reactive compounds  A greater degree of separation for incompatible hazard classes

 Clear labeling  Less confusion for the vendor between waste items & items for redistribution  Properly labeled according to RCRA

Ease of segregation & inventorying  Chemical hazards are easier to segregate into DOT classes than by their functional groups  Chemicals are shipped according to DOT hazard classes  Inventory matches manifest for billing purposes

How we made the change  Filled open positions with Labpack & DOT shipping experienced people  Used Vendor’s facility requirements to dictate segregation requirements  Use chemistry knowledge, old manifests, MSDSs to classify into a hazard class  Researched RCRA labeling & inventory requirements

 Hazcat trained to identify own unknowns

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