Emergency response
A drum that failed, a load turned away, a container that will not hold until Monday. Call and you will reach a person who can start moving it, not a queue.
First, and before us
If anyone is hurt, if there is a fire, or if material has reached a drain, a watercourse or the ground outside containment, call 911 and your own emergency procedure first. We are not a first responder and we will tell you the same thing on the phone.
In the first hour
Containment and people come before disposal, always. Once the situation is stable, the clock that matters is the one on getting the material characterized and moved, and that is where we start.
Material moved without knowing what it is becomes a bigger problem at the receiving end, and a rejected load on top of the original event. Where there is no label and no SDS, characterization comes first — sometimes by analysis, sometimes from process knowledge.
In an emergency the question is not the best outlet, it is the best outlet reachable now. Those are often different answers, and knowing which one you are solving for saves a day.
An emergency is when documentation most often slips, and when it matters most afterwards. The record is built as the material moves rather than reconstructed once everyone has gone home.
After the material is gone there is usually a finding to answer, a report to file or a question about why it happened. That part is cheaper to do in the week after than in the month after.
What we get called about
Not an exhaustive list. If it is urgent and it is a material you need gone, it is worth the call.
Have this ready
If you do not have all of it, call anyway. Partial information now beats complete information in an hour.
Questions
No, and you should be wary of anyone in waste management who says otherwise. Fire, injury and uncontrolled release are 911 and your own emergency procedure. We handle what comes after that: characterizing the material, finding an outlet that will take it, moving it and documenting it.
It depends on the material, the location and what the receiving end needs before it will accept it. We will tell you on the first call what is realistic rather than agreeing to a timeframe and revising it later.
That is common, and it is the first thing to solve rather than a reason to wait. Sometimes an analysis is needed; often process knowledge and a look at where it came from is enough to get it characterized and moving.
If it is urgent, the phone beats the form.