Quote Originally Posted by duncan303 View Post
I collect all suspect waste and it goes into a single container, I keep an eye on it if I am adding something new, which is kept cool and out of sunlight, and when I remember I take it to the assemblers, the company who do the board population.
I've got a metal container that gets all of the little solder bits, wires, basically anything that gets touched by the lead in the solder. When that container gets full-ish, I take it down to the local radiator repair shop and put it in with their 'industrial waste'. They've got all sorts of signs up in the shop saying they're 'HAZMAT' compliant and all that, so I figured it's got a be a decent spot. And since my stuff is such a small quantity, they don't mind at all.
Where it goes after that? I have no idea. But I figure with all those signs, and the way things are going these days, they have to be doing something halfway right or they'd be out of business right? I work in a shop at the base that does circuit card repair work, I could take the waste material there, which would also be a misuse of gov't resources (did anyone else see that article about gov't employees charging up gov't credit cards lately?)...besides, it's only 6 miles to the radiator shop, 27 miles to the shop on base.
Same thing goes with the little brushes and cotton swabs I use to clean off the boards. I put them in a closed container. When it gets about half full, I leave it outside in the open air for a days or so to dry everything out, then put that material in with the solder waste. The guys at the HAZMAT shop on base say it's a decent method of handling stuff.
Hey...at least I'm trying...
Oh, and that radiator shop also has an oil burner for a furnace, burns oil at something like a billion degrees, they take used motor oil too. They've also got an antifreeze recycler...3 for 1 deal for me...