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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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
Seg process was a bottle neck
Seg as in a laboratory – created by a chemist’s thought as to how chemicals should be disposed
Each individual bottle was entered and labeled
Ex: Phenol segregated as “general organic” vs DOT corrosive
Ex: Sodium azide (azo functional group) vs DOT 6.1
Org Hg ships to a separate facility than Inorg Hg

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

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

7. 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
Results:
Shortened labpack by 1-2 days
Saves roughly $6,000 per year in labor
Unknown ID with HAZCAT kit and knowledge of vendor’s shipping requirements
Shorter labpack = $1,200/day for 2 guys in labor for 5 shipments a year
- labor, fuel surcharge, mobilization fee, etc.

8. 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
More than just the 9 DOT classes:
divide into subgroups & packing groups within the DOT Haz classes
PG 1 (6.1.1.) chems all packed by themselves & stored separate

9. Mercury & Mercury compounds shelves
Org Hg
Inorg. Hg
Hg metal
Mercury & Mercury compounds shelves

10. 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
- Different rooms for flammables vs everything else
- Different cabinets for each haz class
Example: Org Acid separate from Inorg Acid

11. Properly labeled according to RCRA
Clear labeling
Less confusion for the vendor between waste items & items for redistribution
Properly labeled according to RCRA
Old labels looked too similar creating confusion
Led to waste items being missed (not shipped) and Redistribution items being accidentally shipped
Researched requirements for labeling
Chemical name, “HAZ WASTE” (if characteristically haz), Date

12. 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
Doesn’t take a PhD chemist to know the hazard classes
Segregated by DOT classes, which is how they are shipped anyway

13. 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
We’ve found that it’s more important to have fewer employees that are more knowledgable than more employees that don’t have a clue
Good knowledge base of most common chemicals HAZ Class
Know special shipping requirements for certain chems
what needs to be wetted
what goes self-pack
Know Vendor’s special provisions for where a specific chemical is being shipped for destruction
Quantity limits per container for certain chems
Ex: direct to incineration vs de-pack at 10 day facility
Thiols/mercaptos & amines have separate disposal destinations

14. Hazcat trained to identify own unknowns
Unknowns identified to at least convey haz class (not necessarily to each carbon chain/functional group)
Hazcat trained to identify own unknowns

15. Questions/comments?