Guides and articles

Chemical waste management is rarely anybody's whole job. It sits alongside teaching support, bench work or facilities, and the questions tend to turn up at awkward moments. A bottle at the back of a cupboard has lost its label. The waste officer wants a consignment note from two years ago. A new head of department asks how often the stock gets checked.

These articles deal with questions like those, for the people who have to answer them in schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and laboratories. They explain what the law expects, and they say so plainly when the answer depends on your own risk assessment or on a nation's rules. Regulatory points link to the official source so that you can check them yourself.

You will find guides on what counts as hazardous waste, duty of care, unlabelled bottles and annual stock checks, along with what drives the cost of a collection. New articles are added by sector. Each one links to the relevant chemical pages and to the service or guide that goes with it.

If you are looking for a reference to keep to hand, start with the consignment note guide, the chemical storage classes and the waste code finder.