sa***@************co.uk | 0161 848 0976 | 3rd Ave, Trafford Park, Manchester, M17 1BW
Industrial Waste Types
Chemical Waste Disposal and Collection
Chemical waste disposal starts with identifying what is in the container. Until the material is tested, nobody can say whether it can be recovered, treated or burned, and the wrong code on a consignment note gets the load turned away at the gate. Packaging Reuse tests it first.
Our full-time environmental chemist works on our EA-permitted Trafford Park site, where the material is tested and the container reconditioned in one place, as part of the wider hazardous waste disposal work the site was built around. Send us a list of what you hold, in the pack sizes you hold it in, and we will confirm what we can take and how it routes. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch.
What chemical waste do we collect?
Chemical waste is any surplus, spent or off-specification product a process can no longer use, plus the residue left in its packaging. It is defined by hazard, so a drum of spent solvent and a pallet of obsolete raw material are the same problem in two shapes. We collect:
- Waste solvents: spent wash solvent, still bottoms and mixed solvent, where recovery is often possible.
- Acids and alkalis: corrosive process liquors, spent acid and caustic.
- Oxidising and reactive agents: oxidisers and other reactive process chemicals.
- Metal-bearing rinses and effluent: plating rinses, effluent and chemical sludge.
- Expired and off-spec stock: obsolete raw material and reagents, labelled or not.
- Drums, IBCs and part-filled containers: the packaging the product arrived in, with residue inside.
Most of it is hazardous, though some is not, and that classification sets the paperwork, the route and the price. Send us a container list, and we will tell you what each stream is.
How we handle your chemical waste
We start by identifying the material: where you hold safety data sheets or analysis we work from those, and where a drum is unlabelled our chemist samples it and works out what it is. We take 25 litre kegs, 200 litre drums, IBCs, FIBCs and bulk liquid by tanker, part-filled containers included, and we handle the contents and the container as one job, so sound drums and IBCs come back for reconditioning and the rest are cleaned and broken for recovery. A shelf of old reagents is never one stream, so we repackage the containers by compatibility group before anything moves. Hazardous loads travel on a consignment note under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005, under ADR in UN-approved packaging we can supply, and we collect across the UK to the ISO 9001 system we have held since 2015.
Call 0161 848 0976 for a quote against your container list.
Chemical waste questions
Where does chemical waste go?
Chemical waste goes to one of four destinations: recovery, treatment, energy or permitted disposal, and its class and cleanliness decide which. Recovery applies at the easy end, mainly solvent recovery by fractional distillation and container reconditioning, where a recovered litre replaces a virgin one. Loads too contaminated by water, resin or chlorinated content go to secondary liquid fuel or incineration, and the rest is treated before permitted disposal.
What if a drum is unlabelled and we don't know what is in it?
An unlabelled drum is normal work here, and it is the most common reason a site cannot get a collection arranged. Our chemist samples the container and identifies it, using your team’s process history where the label has gone. Unknowns stay classed as unknowns until the assessment says otherwise, which is safer for everyone handling the drum.
What EWC code applies to chemical waste?
The EWC code for chemical waste comes from the process that produced it. Commonly applicable entries include 14 06 03* for solvent mixtures, 06 01 06* for other acids, 06 02 05* for other bases, and 16 05 08* for discarded organic chemicals. Classification runs against WM3 and the HP hazard codes, and our chemist confirms it from your data.
What does it cost to dispose of a drum?
The cost to dispose of a drum depends on the class and contamination of the contents more than the volume, so no per-drum figure means much until the material is known. Send us your safety data sheets and a container list, and we will price what is actually there. Where recovery is possible, the value of the recovered fraction can offset part of the cost.
Can we book regular collections or a one-off clearance?
Packaging Reuse runs both scheduled chemical waste collections and one-off clearances. A scheduled collection suits a plant producing spent solvent or process liquor to a steady rhythm, while a one-off clearance suits a store that has built up or a shelf of obsolete reagents. Either way the consignment note travels with the load.
Talk to us about the chemicals waiting on your site
If a store has built up, or an outlet has stopped taking a stream, start by finding out what you have, then how to dispose of it properly. Send us a container list and a photo, and we will come back with the classification, the route and what it takes to clear it. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch with Packaging Reuse.