Empty Solvent & Chemical Bottle Disposal

Note: This is applicable to containers of 5 gallons or less only. Larger containers should be removed as chemical hazardous waste.

The typical way to dispose of empty or nearly-empty solvent bottles is to do a triple rinse with water, collecting the rinse-ate in your liquid hazardous waste collection container (not going down the sink). The rinse does not need to be the full volume of the bottle. At the final rinse, ensure the bottle is sufficiently empty ('drip dry').

Note: Rinsing with water assumes that your solvent is compatible and miscible with water. 

Then, deface the label thoroughly with a permanent marker, crossing out the chemical identifiers and hazard symbols, and write 'EMPTY' very clear on the label itself, or with some lab tape. Cap the container.

At this point it can go in landfill trash. If the bottle material is made of brittle glass, or is chipped or cracked, dispose of it in the broken glass bin in the lab. Reach out to LabOps if the broken glass bin is getting full - LabOps will remove and replace it.

For additional waste disposal recommendations, please review and bookmark the following pages for reference:

Dispose of Waste - UC Berkeley EH&S- General waste disposal recommendations for many items. Note that UC Berkeley Disposal resources are not available to Bakar Labs Tenants. You will have to contract with other vendors (such as CleanEarth).

Drain Disposal Guidelines - UC Berkeley EH&S - Refer to this document for specific recommendations on common laboratory chemicals and reagents. Do not dispose of a solution down the sink drain until you've cross-referenced with this document.