Succinic acid (CAS 110-15-6): storage and disposal

White crystals in a screw-cap tub is how it normally arrives, and the tub belongs in a dry, labelled, well organised store. Serious eye damage is the hazard that decides handling, so keep the lid on to stop dust escaping and do not store it on a high shelf where a tub would have to be lifted down past a face. Date it on arrival. Keep any food grade supplies apart from laboratory stock, because white powders look alike and the same name can appear on both. A shelf label saying chemical store prevents a tub from drifting into a food technology room.

Few visible signs of age show up in succinic acid, so the container and label do the talking. Free-flowing white crystals are normal, and clumping or caking suggests damp has got in. Look for a loose or cracked lid, powder on the outside of the tub or on the shelf, a faded or missing label and an unknown date of receipt. A tub that has been refilled from another container, or one that holds mixed contents, should be recorded as it appears. Anything with a damaged lid or no readable label should stay closed and be listed for collection.

By specialist collection only. It never goes down the drain or into general waste. It is normally packed in a non-regulated or low hazard laboratory pack with compatible chemicals.

Record what is in the tub before asking for a collection: loose crystals or caked lumps, roughly how much is left, whether the lid seats and whether the label can still be read. Because it is classified as causing serious eye damage, it is handled as hazardous waste, and the collector packs it with other organic acids, so itemise it by name. It must never be tipped into a sink or drain, or put into a bin or skip, and it must not be dissolved or neutralised first. A discarded organic chemical outside a lab pack takes the code 16 05 08*.

Usually held as: solid.

Part-used bottles and full containers are both fine. Tell us the size and how many, and an estimate is enough for a first price.