Onsite Recycling Program
Posted on Wed, Apr 08, 2009 @ 12:07 PM
by Ian Lanza, Life Sciences Operations Coordinator
Solvent and formalin recycling are cost effective waste minimization initiatives. Onsite recycling programs cut down on stock chemical volumes, while reducing the amount of hazardous waste being shipped from the facility. Before beginning a recycling program, facilities must evaluate chemicals, processes, and waste collection systems. Upon a complete analysis of your facilities systems, managers can determine if an internal recycling program is a viable waste minimization option. Facilities should take the following steps to determine if a recycling program will be cost effective and operationally plausible:
1. Identify Potential Recyclable Chemicals - First identify the chemicals that could be potentially recycled. Some solvents are more cost effective and easier to recycle than others; likewise some waste streams can be recycled more easily than others. There are recyclers for most types of solvents and formalin. Many recyclers are designed for a single type of solvent.
2. Identify Specific Processes - Processes which consistently use the same chemicals and produce regular waste streams are easier to recycle. Recycling programs run the smoothest if there is a consistent waste stream from a repeating process which requires a standard volume and percentage of a specific solvent. If processes are constantly changing, recovery clean and pure solvents from the waste will be more difficult.
3. Identify Waste Streams - Are the waste stream ‘dirty or clean'? Are waste streams segregated or all collected in a single container? Cleaner waste streams which are segregated are much easier to recycle than ‘dirty' wastes, or solvent wastes that are collected in the same container from more than one process.
4. Identify Volume - There are recycling units for specific solvents and specific volumes. There is a recycler for a lab only recycling a gallon of ethanol a week, and there is a recycler for a facility recycling hundreds of gallons of solvents a day.
5. Get Operational Buy-In - Coordinate a solvent recycling program with waste management technicians and scientists or employees performing the process and generating the waste. If there is no one to manage the recycling program it won't succeed.
6. Training - Train scientists and lab personnel on how to use the recycler and the advantages of using the recycler.