There is no carbon filter that will get significant amounts of the many kinds of chemicals and drugs from this kind of lab. And a neutralization tank is a box of marble chips that only raises the pH of strongly acidic wastes. This tank can have no effect whatever on the chemicals you are washing down the drain. It is well-known that many drugs can make it through the several filtering procedures in a municipal waste treatment plant.
Even more interesting, it is your employer's job to deal with this issue, not yours. As Walter suggested in his reply to you, you could have the "holding tank" pumped out---IF THERE IS A HOLDING TANK. Ask your employer where the holding tank is and how often it is pumped out. My guess is there isn't one.
And if there isn't, I think a whistleblower call to another agency, i.e., the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, might bring justice to the DOJ.
Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062
-----Original Message-----
From: Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Tue, Jun 17, 2014 12:15 pm
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Compounds washed down the drain
From: Sylvia Tarin Brousseau <sock5108**At_Symbol_Here**aol.com>
I am a drug chemist for DOJ. We routinely use mortars, pestles, etc. in the
course of our analysis. Is there a sink filter (carbon?) to catch residual
compounds being washed down the drain? We do have a neutralization tank that
does some filtering. We have chemists that are worried about drugs (pharm and
otherwise) appearing in the food chain due to the waste water. Any insight
appreciated.