Chemical waste: off-site disposal

If you do not wish to wait for the University wide collection of unwanted and/or waste chemicals, you may organise for the disposal yourself through an external contractor.

How to arrange waste disposal

The recommended contractor is ERS Australia. If using ERS Australia, phone (+61 8) 9351 1370 to arrange a quote.

It is imperative that full details are provided to ERS Australia to get an accurate quote. Do not label or list a container simply as “phenol waste” for example, but rather as "approx 40% w/w phenol in water". Provide as much detail as possible and state the solvent in which solutions are made up, do not assume others will know what solvent/s have been used.

If it is aqueous state that; if not - specify the solvent/s used. Do not use chemical shorthand for substances, use full names and specify relative quantities in mixtures/solutions.

Labelling examples

UNACCEPTABLE	ACCEPTABLE
HPLC waste	20% methanol, 30% acetonitrile, 50% water
Phenol waste	40% phenol in water
1% tris	1% trishydroxymethylaminomethane in water
K3Fe(CN)6	Potassium Ferricyanide
ACN/DCM	20% acetonitrile 80% dichloromethane
Ru trisbipy Cl	tris(2,2-bipyridyl) ruthenium III chloride

For more complex solutions and commercial products/formulations, please provide a copy of the manufacturers MSDS, or if you can’t obtain it, as much detail as possible on the product. Note that some photographic chemical manufacturers have different MSDS for fresh and used products.