What about plastic pigs?

["Steven Grimm" <SGrimm@ehso.emory.edu>]

Do any vendors Amersham, NEN, etc. take back the plastic pigs 
(?) used to ship radioactive research material to research labs. Our 
labs here have these things piling up on top of their refrigerators by 
the score because they're not quite sure qhat to do with them. Of 
course I tell them that they can deface them and put them in their 
solid waste containers. But in this age of recycling products, it 
seems such a waste (pun intended). Why won't the vendors take 
them back. I mean, if they're used to ship short lived isotopes, they 
can just let them sit to decay in case they're contaminated, can't 
they? If it's H3, can't they just throw them in a dishwasher to wash 
of the residual contamination? I suppose they would then have to 
sample the waste water periodically to report a sewage disposal 
amount, but surely it couldn't be THAT much. It would seem to me 
to be a way to save a little bit of money for them. Maybe even they 
could have some sort of "S&H" stamp program like "return 500 
plastic vials and receive 250uCi P-32 orthophosphate FREE!"
Steve Grimm
ARSO
Radiation Safety Office
Crawford Long Hospital
(404)686-1426; pgr. 404-837-5612
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