Triton X-100 (CAS 9002-93-1): storage and disposal

The hazard that decides where it goes is the aquatic one, so a bottle needs secondary containment as much as a shelf. Keep neat stock upright in a plastic tray on a general shelf, tightly closed, with the cap thread wiped clean. Because the liquid is slow and viscous, it gathers around the neck and runs down the label in long drips, and staff often dispense it clumsily. Pathology and university stores usually keep working bottles of diluted detergent made by someone else beside it, so label the neat stock clearly with its full name and opening date. Keep it away from food and drink areas.

Start with the bottle neck. A sticky ring, a long string of gel on the thread and a label stuck to the shelf are the usual signs of a viscous liquid that has been dispensed many times. The liquid itself should be clear and slightly yellow. A cloudy or hazy bottle, an odd smell, floating material or a bottle that has been topped up from another container should be recorded and not used. Foam in the bottle neck usually means someone has shaken it. The cap often seizes in older bottles where dried detergent has glued the thread, and force can crack the neck.

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.

Neat Triton X-100 leaves by specialist collection in a lab pack, kept upright in a leak-proof container with its cap secured. With H400 on record it must never go to a drain, even in what looks like a small amount, as this is the classification that makes it a hazardous waste. The code 16 05 06* applies in a research lab, 16 05 08* is used where it is a discarded organic chemical outside a pack, and 18 01 06* applies in a human healthcare setting. Buffers that contain it are mixtures, so describe them by their label and keep them in their own bottles.

Usually held as: neat.

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.