• ​Select reagents and procedures that minimize the volume and toxicity of all  wastes. If feasible, design experiments in such a way that radioactive wastes are generated separately from chemically or biologically hazardous wastes  
• Avoid ordering radioactive materials in quantities that exceed your intended usage
• Non-radioactive wastes must never be mixed with radioactive wastes.  Failure to do this significantly increases the volume of wastes
• Non-radioactive tracers and methods are available for many common assays, and procedures used in biomedical
• Substitute with Short-lived Radionuclides where feasible
• Reduce the activity and volumes of materials used in the experiment to decrease the amount of wastes generated
• Replace hazardous chemical solvents with formulations not regulated as hazardous or mixed wastes
• Limit the number of users of radioactive materials
• Limit the number of areas where radioactive materials are used 

NIH Policy Manual 3032 ​
NIH policy on environmental management  and waste minimization​        

NIH Environmental Management System (NEMS)
A management tool to help improve environmental performance and provide information on the NIH Goes Greener Campaign