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Chemical Cleanout Toolkit
for Utah Schools

Science Labs

Microscale Chemistry

What is Microscale Chemistry?

How to maintain a pollution-free environment and how to handle chemical wastes are subjects of increasing concern to all scientists, educators and the general public.
The best way to succeed in this effort is by eliminating chemical waste at the source. Reduction of chemical use to the minimum level at which experiments can be effectively performed is known as Microscale Chemistry.

Microscale chemistry is an environmentally safe pollution prevention method of performing chemical processes using small quantities of chemicals with out compromising the quality and standard of chemical applications in education and industry.

Microscale Chemistry is performed by using:

Drastically reduced amounts of chemicals
Safe and easy manipulative techniques
Miniature labware and high quality skills

Microscale Chemistry amounts to a Total Quality Management (TQM) approach to the use of chemicals. Microscale Chemistry is recognized as Smallscale Chemistry by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Why Microscale Chemistry?

Microscale Chemistry offers many benefits:

It reduces chemical use promoting waste reduction at the source.
It offers vastly improved laboratory safety by

Better Laboratory Air Quality.
Least Exposure to Toxic Chemicals.
No Fire and Explosion Hazards.
No Spills and Accidents.

It sharply reduces laboratory cost.
It requires shorter experiment time.
It implements excellent laboratory manipulative techniques.
It lowers glass breakage cost.
It saves storage space.
It improves laboratory skills.
It provides clean and productive environment.
It promotes the principle of 3Rs: Reduce, Recover and Recycle.
It creates the sense of 'Green Chemistry'.
It changes the psychology of people using chemicals.
It is user friendly to people with physical disabilities.

The bottom line: It is a cost effective, productive and pollution prevention program.

Source: http://www.microscale.org/about.asp (opens in a new window).

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Chemical Cleanout Toolkit for Utah Schools

Science Labs

Chemical Cleanout Toolkit
for Utah Schools