Reagent Disposal – Choosing the Greenest Option
Dr Geoff King, Lab Product Manager, HACH LANGE, Salford UK Email:
info@hach-lange.co.uk
As one of the world's largest manufacturers of instruments and reagents for water analysis, HACH LANGE has a duty to create the most environmentally friendly system possible for the
management of chemical waste resulting from the use of its products. Dismissing less sustainable options, the company has invested heavily in a state of the art environment centre that handles waste reagents, bottles, cuvettes and packaging from all over Europe. Dirk Kruse is the Scientific and Technical Officer at HACH LANGE's Environment Centre. He says "Our waste management policy is designed to minimise or eliminate the company's impact on the environment and is based on the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle."
Background
The accuracy and reliability of environmental analysis is greatly enhanced when reagent quantities are controlled as tightly as possible. HACH LANGE has therefore developed a broad range of tests that employ pre-filled tubes or cuvettes. These tubes are bar-coded and delivered ready-for-use, containing extremely precise amounts of reagent chemicals. An added environmental and cost advantage of this method is the avoidance of unused, spilled or waste reagents in the laboratory.
Once a test is complete, the waste sample, tube and reagents must be handled in the correct manner. A good example of this method is the COD test, for which HACH LANGE supplies millions of tubes worldwide every year. The COD test involves reagents containing tiny amounts of Mercury, Silver and Chromium, so the waste is defined as hazardous and must not enter the sewage/wastewater drainage system. This is also the case for other tests, for example; phosphate, ammonia, nitrates and cuvettes containing acid, alkaline solution and cyanide.
Choosing the Most Environmentally Sensitive Disposal Method
The Environment Centre was designed and built in 1988 following an exhaustive operation to investigate all possible means for handling the waste products.
From an environmental perspective, in-house treatment, recovery and recycling was clearly the best option, although it required a high level of initial capital investment. Nevertheless, HACH LANGE took the decision to invest in a new Environment Centre, designed and built specifically for the purpose of handling waste reagents and associated packaging.
There were many reasons for the decision to invest in the Environment Centre, but the most important of these were environmental.
Efficient Waste Management
Outside of HACH LANGE, most laboratory waste is transferred to treatment facilities that handle a wide variety of hazardous materials. As such, it is not possible for such facilities to operate as efficiently as the HACH LANGE plant because of the diversity of chemicals in the waste.
IET May / June 2011
www.envirotech-online.com
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