Australia's Science Forum

We've got bottles of 90% acetic acid and 36% hydrochloric acid that arrived from the supplier in plastic. I do not recall from Cert III in lab skills or my on-the-job training anything that was not to be stored in plastic. I'll put a question on science assist and get back to you. Haines have quite cheap one litre plastic storage bottles https://www.chemtalk.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=451/bottle-storag ... w-cap.html

We went with glass as they are heavier, therefore more stable and less likely to be knocked over. The waste bottles go into our senior Chemistry classes, it is not just me handling them.

I heard back from Teresa Gigengack at Science ASSIST and she said sodium hydroxide solutions need to be stored in chemical-resistant plastic. She wanted more details about particular chemicals I may have questions about, so put a post on the site if you need more information.

I was planning on having waste bottles for organics; inorganics (cobalt,copper, strontium); lead; nickel; chromium; zinc; silver.
The 2.5L Hdpe bottles chemicals come in are stable so I would not be too concerned about them tipping over if they can be used for waste storage, and if I can source them.
Previously we had our 2 waste bottles stored in the fume cupboard so they were not being moved around. But now with having so many, I am not sure where I will store them. They may have to go in the chemical storeroom which means all the waste from the students will have to come back to me.
The 2.5L Hdpe bottles chemicals come in are stable so I would not be too concerned about them tipping over.

LEAD WASTE 39

Add Sodium Carbonate solid, to waste, pour into
bottle, when clear down the sink to waste

A small Lead Salt will
Remain on the bottom




SILVER WASTE 43

Add Sodium Chloride solution any conc. to bottle, when settled clear can go down the sink to waste

A small Silver salt will
remain on the bottom
These may help others

Thanks Labbie. Very useful, as always.
I learned on Science ASSIST that the waste bottles should be stored according to the same rules for non-waste chemicals i.e. organic waste should be stored in the flammables cabinet. I am definitely going to run out of space in the chemical store room!

I try to limit the use of metals by encouraging mico-chemistry (I'm not always successful!) and we we don't use any lead salts at all; I recently banned potassium permanganate because it's so hard to dispose of.

I don't put anything down the sink and discourage students from doing so (again, not always successfully) largely because we have Level 5 water restrictions so I can't flush the sink!

Good point Elizabeth. I can't put anything down our sink because of the septic but given how dry it had been here for the last three years, I felt guilty running the tap. Fortunately, chemical disposal is factored into the budget and I don't have any problems organising disposal.
In terms of plastic -v- glass - I still feel that a 2L glass bottle is less likely to get knocked over than plastic.