Purchase, storage and disposal of chemicals
Anyone involved in the purchase, storage and disposal of chemicals — especially lab managers — should be familiar with the rules.
Purchasing
- All chemicals must be purchased, following approved SciTrack purchasing procedures, from SciTrack registered vendors.
- All chemicals must be delivered to University premises.
- Newly received chemicals shall have their storage location updated in SciTrack by a Designated Laboratory Person (DLP) within one week of receipt. Note: ‘Receipt’ includes delivery by vendor and transfer from other organisations.
More information: SciTrack.
Purchase of Controlled Drugs must be in accordance with University procedures which can be found on the Research Hub
Storage
For the storage of chemicals in the laboratory, refer to the University’s Chemical Risk Management Protocol Guidelines and Safe Methods of Use (SMOU).
Refer specifically to guide Chemical Lifecycle Management
Disposal
The University’s Chemical Risk Management Protocol Guidelines and Safe Methods of Use (SMOU) contain disposal instructions for certain hazardous chemical classes. Please refer to guideline "Using Chemicals" for general information, and the relevant SMOU for more detail. Chemical Safety Data Sheets also have disposal information.
Compounds that must be disposed by a licensed contractor
The following chemicals, and waste containing them, must be disposed of by a licensed chemical disposal contractor (note this is an indicative list only)
1. Large quantities and/or surplus hazardous chemicals.
2. Reactive chemicals—UN Class 4 (flammable solids, self-reactive compounds, and those that emit flammable gas on contact with water), UN Class 5.1 (oxidisers) and 5.2 (organic peroxide) compounds.
3. Organic solvents that are not miscible with water—UN Class 3 flammable liquids such as ethers, xylene, acetonitrile.
4. Waste containing hazardous metals e.g. —salts of silver, lead, nickel, osmium.
5. Waste containing toxic chemicals—UN Class 6.
6. Chemicals or mixtures that are strongly acidic or strongly alkaline.
7. Buffer solutions containing ethidium bromide that have not been pre-treated to remove the ethidium bromide.
8. Untreated media that has had contact with infectious organisms or GMOs.
9. Mercury—for more information about the clean up and disposal of mercury, please refer to the Safe Methods of Use SMOU 21: Mercury spills.
To arrange the disposal of any of the compounds mentioned above, please contact the designated chemical waste disposal person for your department, and refer to the waste disposal procedure documents as below. If your department does not have a contact, please email the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Service: hsw@auckland.ac.nz.
Disposal Contacts and Procedures
| Area |
Contact |
|---|---|
| Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences |
Damian White |
| School of Chemical Sciences | Tasdeeq Mohammed |
| School of Biological Sciences | Keith Richards |
| Civil and Environmental Engineering | Meet Mistry |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering - Park Ave and Symonds Street |
Matthew Sidford |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering - Newmarket | David Cotton |
The following links are to resources available to staff only.
- Chemical waste disposal procedure: This procedure illustrates the process to contact the chemical waste supplier, creation of quote and PO and to keep track of chemical waste disposal. (DOCX 19.4 KB)
- Enviro Waste price list 2023 (PDF 219.1 KB)
- Chemical waste inventory template. Template to record all the chemicals to be disposed. This list must be sent to the supplier, cc SciTrack email. (XLSX 644.1 KB)
- Annual chemical waste inventory template: All the chemical waste disposed per area/department must be kept using this template. The full annual chemical waste inventory must be sent to SciTrack email, each year in January. (XLSX SIZE:12.6 KB)
Document Control
Version: 1.1
Last Updated: Jun 2024
Next Review: Jun 2027
Owner: hsw@auckland.ac.nz
Approver: Associate Director, Health Safety & Wellbeing