Do not evaporate, neutralize, donate, or pour chloroform away. Keep it closed and identified, then arrange a hazardous-waste handoff with the right local service.
If the container is leaking, damaged, or causing fumes or symptoms, leave the area and call 911 or your fire department.
Keep Chloroform Closed and Labeled
Leave the chemical in its original container with the label intact. Do not open it to check the odor or move it into another bottle.
Keep it away from children, pets, drains, heat, and incompatible chemicals while you wait for professional instructions.
Chloroform Handoff Record
Product name and CAS number, if labeled: Concentration or purity, if labeled: Approximate amount: Original container and label: yes / no Container sound, damaged, or leaking: Household, school, laboratory, or business source: Do you accept it, and what must happen before transport?
Arrange a Hazardous-Waste Handoff
For household material, call your city or county household hazardous-waste program and name chloroform. A general chemical event may not accept it.
Ask about acceptance, quantity limits, packaging, transport, appointments, fees, and damaged-container instructions. Wait for its answer before moving the bottle.
School, laboratory, medical, and business chloroform is not household waste. Use the organization’s chemical-waste program or a licensed hazardous-waste service.
Do Not Treat It Yourself
Chloroform evaporates readily. ATSDR says breathing it can cause dizziness, tiredness, headaches, and more serious effects at high exposure.
Do not pour it onto towels or soil to evaporate. Do not burn or heat it.
Do not reflux it with sodium hydroxide or mix it with bleach, oxidizers, metals, alcohol, another solvent, or any disposal chemical.
Responder and laboratory procedures require equipment and controls that a household article cannot supply. They are not home disposal methods.
Keep It Out of Drains and Trash
Do not pour chloroform into a sink, toilet, septic system, storm drain, street, or onto the ground.
Keep liquid chloroform, contaminated absorbents, and partly full bottles out of household trash and curbside recycling.
Ask the receiving service how it wants contaminated gloves, towels, or broken labware managed. Do not double-bag them and guess.
Leaks, Spills, and Exposure
If you smell fumes, feel dizzy, or see a spill, move to fresh air without walking through the release. Keep other people away.
Call 911 or the fire department for an uncontrolled release. NOAA’s responder guidance requires specialized protective equipment, so do not attempt household cleanup.
For possible skin, eye, inhalation, or swallowing exposure, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. Follow its instructions instead of an online first-aid recipe.