From: Liam Lawless (lawless@ic24.net)
Date: 05/01/00-06:55:50 PM Z
Hi All,
This little debate has brought out some very interesting points about
dichromate wastes, from which my conclusion is that your OSHA regulations
are designed to prevent large-scale dumping and that relatively minute
amounts are not a problem - but it is so much easier to prohibit all
disposal
than admit exceptions where they might be appropriate (e.g. cities)!
And we draw the wrong conclusions from a blanket ban, and are needlessly
worried... or so it would seem.
This isn't what my post yesterday set out to prove - it merely asked "why?"
But I'm impressed by a point made by Stan, and by Dallas in a telephone
conversation this evening, that we should generally strive to cultivate
responsible habits (i.e. to make good working practices habitual), even if
some of the things we go (e.g. recycling) are of little practical value.
The various testimonies have convinced me beyond reasonable doubt that
dichromate disposal on a small scale does not pose a problem in my own
environment, but - what the hell? - it's (I imagine) almost as easy to treat
the stuff as it is to throw it away, so I'll do it in future.
Am presently conducting a test. Hypo added to a dichromate solution turned
it dark green-blue and formed a cloudy white suspension that hovered in a
band just below the surface. Nothing settled out (after about 3 hours), so
sod. hydroxide was added. This produced more of the suspension and the top
inch or so of the liquid became clear and paler in colour, but the
suspension still shows no sign of settling - looks like it will take
overnight, maybe longer. Will keep the list posted.
Apologies to everyone for opening this can of worms.
Liam
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