Main navigation

Hazardous waste disposal guidelines

Hazardous Waste Management (HWM) provides a full hazardous material disposal service to the McGill community. Disposal of waste is free of charge to internal departments, provided the waste is:

generated by research activities (this does not include equipment maintenance),
presented in a proper manner by following the guidelines detailed in the sections below,
and not part of a lab decommissioning (see section below for details on decommissioning).

Dedicated hazardous waste rooms are emptied on a weekly basis. You do not need to submit a myLab request to arrange the pick-up of waste stored in these rooms.

Due to the nature of hazardous materials, a few basic requirements are necessary for us to process and dispose of them safely and efficiently. See the pages linked below for further details.

Failure to respect the disposal guidelines can result in disposal costs charged to the laboratory.

Laboratory decommissioning

Laboratory decommissioning is not entirely covered by HWM and will require a FOAPAL.

The following scenarios are considered lab decommissioning:

A researcher is leaving McGill and needs their equipment removed from the lab.
A researcher is moving to a different laboratory on campus.
A space where laboratory work was performed is abandoned.
A laboratory is closing.
A renovation project will take place in a laboratory.

Special arrangements need to be made with our department, as laboratory decommissioning is not considered to be part of regular hazardous waste disposal activities. Laboratory decommissioning will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and an estimate of the costs not covered by HWM will be produced following a visit of the areas to be cleaned. In order to do a proper decommissioning, please consult the EHS laboratory decommissioning documents.

Waste rooms and contacts

The dedicated hazardous waste rooms are not meant to store any type of container other than those provided by HWM. This includes chemicals in their original bottles, which should stay in your laboratory as we will collect them directly on location.

740 Dr. Penfield (Genome)
Location: waste room 3401
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066

Frank Dawson Adams
Location: McConnell 015
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066

Ludmer
Location: room 110
Contact: Cindy Lui
Tel.: 514/398-4176
Location: 104
Contact: Shane
Tel.: 514-398-2458

Lyman Duff Medical
Location: 222A
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066
Location: 5th floor (biomedical)
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066

McIntyre Medical
Location: room 129
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066

McConnell Engineering
Location: room 015
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066

M.H. Wong
Location: room 3280
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066

Strathcona Anatomy & Dentistry
Location: Genome room 3401
Contact: HWM
Tel.: 514-398-5066

Montreal Neurological Institute
Location: room 045
Contact (radioactivity): Christian Janicki
Tel.: 514-934-1934 ext. 43866

Otto Maass Chemistry
Location: room 48A
Contact: Chemistry store
Tel.: 514-398-6221

Stewart Biology
Location: room N3/17
Location: 3rd Floor Rear / Receiving Dock Cold Room (biomedical)
Contact: Joseph Iantomasi
Tel.: 514-398-6432