Taking proper precautions with the Arsenic trash is crucial to providing a safe lab environment and avoiding accidental exposure for both lab members and disposal staff (and others).

Everyone in the lab must wear a respirator when someone is taking out/double-bagging the arsenic trash.

Capture

• Any As or potentially As containing waste must be disposed of properly.

• Waste water is to be completely collected in triple-rinsed and properly labeled containers.

• Solid waste goes into As trash

  • The waste ought to be contained in a wipe, baggy, foil, etc. If you take the necessary precautions, As should be contained.

  • Antimony is toxic as well and goes into the As trash

  • E.g. Cleaving a GaAs, InAs, or GaSb wafer? Any broken bits of wafer go in the blue wafer waste container, and contaminated and potentially contaminated wipes must go into the As trash.

• Don't let the trash can get too full

  • If it can't close, there's an increased exposure risk

Disposal

• When a liquid bottle is nearing full, double check the label, and bring it to the back pass-through where waste goes.

• When a trash can is full, follow this procedure:

  • Get caution tape

  • Remove the trash bag from the trash can, carefully, make sure there are no tears.

  • Carefully press air out of the bag, tie up the trash bag (you may use tape at the tie off point to help), then double over the tied tail and tape it very well

    • Important to get air out carefully because we will be double-bagging

    • the first bag is now double-sealed

  • Go to the custodian closet in the cleanroom hallway and acquire 2+ number of trash bags of the proper size (I think they are X-large)

    • You need one bag to double bag, another bag to triple bag (optional), one bag to replace the current one

    • The previous person may have left some bags at the trash can bottom

    • It can be nice to put extra bags in the trash can bottom for the next person to take out the trash

  • Double-bag the full trash bag, following the same press-out-air, tie-up, tape-up method

  • Triple-bag if desired (optional)

  • Place the new bag into the trash can

  • Put a waste label on the outer bag of the full bag, with big thick letters on it

  • Remove bag to back pass-through

  • The old bag is now awaiting disposal and the new bag is ready to accept waste

Accidents

• If Arsenic accidentally spills, spreads, etc. the chemical must be cleaned up

• Best technique TBD

• There is an Arsenic vacuum in the batcave far cabinet