Disposal of hazardous waste is not without potentially adverse environmental impacts.  Disposal costs for some categories of material continue to increase due to pressure to regulate more substances at lower concentrations and limitations on the kinds of wastes that can be disposed of in landfills.  For these reasons it is important to minimize the amount of material that must be disposed of as hazardous wastes, as discussed below. 
 Disposal costs are not charged directly to specific departments or projects, but are borne at the institutional level.  The objective of this system is to allow each department, researcher, and staff member to manage their hazardous wastes properly without direct economic penalty.

9.1  Materials Exchange
    Whenever you have an excess of materials, try to find someone within the ISU community who can use the material, rather than declare it as waste.  Whenever you need a material, try to find someone within the ISU community that has an excess of that material, rather than to purchase more.  The Chemical Swap program on the TSO’s website can be used to locate chemicals that may be available for exchange.  The TSO staff will also facilitate exchanges or help locate excess chemicals.

9.2  Less Is Better
    Whenever possible, limit the amount of material you purchase to that which you can reasonably expect to use.  Disposal costs for hazardous materials are frequently higher than the initial purchase price.

9.3  Alternative Material 
    In some circumstances, there are alternative materials or methods to carry out a procedure that results in less hazardous waste than others.  These methods should be used whenever possible to minimize the volume (and costs) of disposal at ISU.  Please take time to plan waste minimization activities by careful consideration of alternative methods of achieving the same result.  Your waste may turn out to be the material which moves ISU from a small quantity generator to a large quantity generator.  DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!!

9.4  Experimental Quantities
    Whenever possible, use the minimum quantity of materials for your work.  Alternatives to full scale experiments include:

• microscale quantities of material to perform experiments;
• team versus individual performance of experiments; and
• instructor demonstrations versus team or individual performance.

Technical Safety Office Idaho State University Campus Box 8106 785 S. 8th St. PS Rm 101  Pocatello, ID 83209 Phone: (208) 282-2310 or 282-2311 Fax: (208) 282-4649