Lab pack software
Walk the stockroom. The drums, the manifest and the bill follow.
A lab pack prepares, staffs and closes on the same machinery an event does, plus the two steps only a lab pack has: the walkthrough and the drum build.
Walk. Every bottle on the shelf, chemical by chemical.
Pack. By your own categories, checked as you go.
Manifest. One line per drum category.
A drum per category. A manifest per designated facility.
However many categories the shelf holds, and wherever the drums are going. The job's manifest count follows from where the drums go — one per designated facility.
Each drum carries its category, its generic PSN, its codes and its gross weight.
UN1993 Waste flammable liquids, n.o.s., 3, PG II
Fiber drum, vermiculite, gross weight off the scale, codes unioned from the bottles inside — D001, F003. One DOT class per outer.
UN1760 Waste corrosive liquid, n.o.s., 8, PG II
Inner container size and gross weight are validated against the 173.12(b) limits as you pack.
UN1479 Waste oxidizing solid, n.o.s., 5.1, PG II
Category pairs that must not share a drum are flagged — compatibility is handled at the category level.
UN2810 Waste toxic liquid, organic, n.o.s., 6.1, PG II
Your own category list, with its generic proper shipping name, not a vocabulary baked into the software.
A poison inhalation hazard never rides in a lab pack.
49 CFR 173.12(b). Mercovi names it, says why, and ships it as its own container instead of letting it into a drum.
The drum build, and the manifest lines it becomes.
Unknowns waiting on Hazcat stay out of the drums until they are answered. The manifest writes one line per drum category, using the category's generic proper shipping name with the waste codes unioned from everything in that drum.
| Line | Shipping description | Drums |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UN1993 Waste flammable liquids, n.o.s., 3, PG II | 1 |
| 2 | UN1760 Waste corrosive liquid, n.o.s., 8, PG II | 1 (open) |
| 3 | UN1479 Waste oxidizing solid, n.o.s., 5.1, PG II | 1 (open) |
New streams start from the regulatory library, not a blank form.
When the walkthrough finds a stream you have not shipped before, you pick it from the library and the record fills in: the RCRA codes, the composed DOT shipping description, the EPA management method. You adjust; you do not type a shipping description from memory.
What the library holds.
RCRA waste codes
40 CFR 261EPA's waste codes — the D, F, K, P and U series — picked onto the stream. Any code on the stream makes its manifest a Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest. On a container the codes are never typed: they are the union of its contents.
DOT shipping description
49 CFR 172.101UN/NA number, proper shipping name, hazard class and packing group come from the hazardous materials table. The description is composed from those fields, with "Waste" leading the shipping name while any waste code is on.
EPA management method
The management method code the designated facility will apply, from the same list the manifest prints.
Lab pack categories
Your own categories, each with its generic proper shipping name and the 173.12(b) limits it packs under.
The rest of the record
Designated facility and its approval number, and the cost per measure — 55 DF, 5 GAL, LB, LF — so the drum that leaves the stockroom already knows where it is going and what it costs you.
What may not ride in a lab pack.
49 CFR 173.12(b) governs lab packs. Mercovi checks these at the drum build.
Inner container size
Validated against the 173.12(b) limit for the inner container as each item is added to a drum.
Gross weight
The gross weight off the scale is validated against the 173.12(b) limit for the outer packaging.
Prohibited materials
Poison inhalation hazard, 6.1 PG I and temperature-controlled materials are flagged with the reason and shipped as their own container.
Category pairs
Category pairs that must not share a drum are flagged. Compatibility is handled at the category level; Mercovi does not claim a chemical-level compatibility matrix.
Source: 49 CFR 173.12.
Unknowns
An item waiting on Hazcat is tracked as an unknown and cannot be categorized or packed until it is answered. The count of what is still unknown is on the job record.
Pack lists and the bill
The pack lists print, one page per drum, and download as a single PDF. The bill prices drums by category, per container or per pound, from that client's own table.
The drums, the manifest, the pack lists and the bill all come from the one walkthrough.
Your wastes, containers, facilities, management methods, billing methods and limits are yours to edit. No developer ticket to add a facility.
Asked about lab packs.
What does a lab pack walkthrough record?
For every container seen on the walk: the chemical name, CAS number, physical state, inner container material and size, quantity, hazard class, waste codes, and where on the shelf it was standing. Items waiting on Hazcat are tracked as unknowns rather than blanks.
What may not go in a lab pack?
49 CFR 173.12(b) governs lab packs: inner container size limits, gross weight limits, and materials that may never ride in one, such as a poison inhalation hazard. Mercovi flags a prohibited item with the reason and ships it as its own container. Compatibility cautions are at the category level — category pairs that must not share a drum are flagged; there is no chemical-level compatibility matrix.
How does a drum become a manifest line?
The manifest writes one line per drum category, using the category's generic proper shipping name with the waste codes unioned from everything in that drum. Drums going to different designated facilities go on different manifests, so a job can have more than one.
How is a lab pack billed?
Drums are priced by category, per container or per pound, from that client's own table. The pack lists print one page per drum and download as a single PDF.
See it run a job end to end.
Tell us what you run — events, plant pickups, lab packs, a floor — and we'll show you the screens that matter to you.
Last reviewed 2026-10-02