Items such as needles, syringes, razor blades and other sharp objects are found in solid waste containers that are examined at the DES waste facility. Source vials, labeled vials and other non-solid waste are also present in the drums. These are available commercially or readily available in the lab in the form of cardboard boxes that can be sealed with tape when full. The sharps container is then placed on top of the drum rather than inside the drum. When personnel come to pick up the waste they handle the placement of the sharps container in the drum before sealing the container for removal.
Mixed waste is another category that is both time consuming and costly for disposal.
Mixed waste consists of a listed hazardous waste or one that meets the criteria for a hazardous waste, these are parameters for categories of toxicity, reactivity, corrosivity, and ignitability, that contain radioactive waste. These must be separated to avoid an adverse reaction and by the half life of the isotope. Those with short half lives can be held for decay by our department, at which time they may then be treated as hazardous waste for only their chemical content. It is rare that the user in the lab will generate a solid mixed waste, but sometimes by using a red bag that designates a biohazard, the waste is marked as a mixed waste. Again it is rare that this is the case and the user and DES working together determine that the wrong type of solid container or plastic bag was used to temporarily store radioactive waste.