Reagent bottles are specialist containers made of glass, plastic or borosilicate and topped by special caps or stoppers. For safety reasons, they require specialist means of disposal.
Where should I dispose of my reagent bottles?
- Clean, rinsed, whole, empty bottles with the tops removed are placed in the appropriate grey crates found in labs.
- There is no need to deface the labels.
What happens to them?
- At South Kensington, crates are checked and emptied at regular intervals (on a daily basis in the Chemistry Building; on a weekly basis elsewhere) by a cleaner with responsibility to a store area (Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Bessemer Building or Blackett Building).
- The cleaner separates the bottles by producer (VWR/BDH, Fisher and Sigma-Aldrich). (Sigma-Aldrich bottles are separated at Sir Alexander Fleming Building only where there is sufficient space to do so.)
- The cleaner palletizes the VWR/BDH and Fisher bottles for each producer ready for collection by each company.
- Sigma-Aldrich and remaining bottles are palletized in a box pallets ready for collection by a specialist contractor.
- Outside of South Kensington, bottles should be taken to the chemical waste store by the lab user.
All receptacles are reused and recycled (the exact processes for which vary between providers.)