DISPOSAL OF WASTE MATERIALS : In a school or college science laboratory, chemical wastes, broken glassware, unserviceable non consumable items, obsolete instruments, used biological specimens and radioactive materials need to be disposed of from time to time.

Many of them could be health hazards or could cause inconvenience for free movement especially during times of emergency.

Radioactive materials, if any are to be disposal of as per the directives of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Mumbai, We shall not discuss their disposal in this unit. In this section, we shall explain the terms, unservice able items, obsolete instruments, and chemical wastes.

We shall also state the methods of disposal of all these three categories of waste materials.

Unserviceable nonconsumable items

The nonconsumabk items that are broken or are in nonfunctional status come under this category.

Examples:

i) broken burette stands or furniture, rusted metal trays or bunsen burners etc.

ii) nonfunctional instruments like galvanometers, ammeters, refrigerators, air conditioners, deionisers, ovens etc.

 Obsolete instruments

Old model instruments which are functional but not used due to purchase of latest model belong to this category. Examples:

Old model pHmeters, colorimeters, computers etc

 Chemical wastes

The chemical wastes may occur in the following cases:

1.      breakage of the container caused by accidental fall

2.      partial decomposition because of improper storage

3.      Atmospheric action due to its moisture, carbon dioxide or oxygen content.