> One additional note on disposal: the tapes > contain chromium, a carcinogenic heavy metal that must be disposed of as > hazardous waste in the United States.
I just took a look at the storage products section of IBM's Web site. This includes softcopy of G225-6759-02, a brochure on 3590 media. This publication states that 3590 cartridges are "Classified as nonhazardous waste per EPA Regulation 40CFR261 and may be disposed as normal office trash". I don't think the same was true of all of the earlier cartrige media. A few years ago my employer retired most of its inventory of 3480 cartridges. The co-workers responsible for this told me that those cartridges had to be treated as hazardous waste.
