[Histonet] Waste Flammable Info Please

[Teri Johnson]

Hi Dennis,

I don't think that recycling will fix your EPA license issue. They care about how much you GENERATE through use, not whether it is actually being disposed of or even recycled. We had an issue with the EPA regarding our xylene generation at another facility I used to work in. When I tried to point out that we were recycling it, they said that didn't make a difference. Once it goes into use, it becomes generated waste.

You might want to look at changing your practices so that you generate less, i.e. changing the processors according to block numbers or alcohol dilution rather than number of runs, or using smaller containers at the staining bench.

Alcohol recycling is great, but you will never get back anything more pure than about 98% so you will need to continue to purchase absolute alcohol. The biggest difficulty is making sure you keep any xylene contaminated alcohol separate and out of the recycler. Xylene will not be removed from alcohol during alcohol recycling so you will still have contaminated alcohol. Anything containing xylene must be recycled as xylene (or manifested out as waste).

I hope this helps,

Teri Johnson
Manager, Histology
Genomics Institute for
Novartis Research
Foundation
San Diego, CA
858-332-4752