Overview
Glass Compatibility
Concentrated aluminum, calcium, potassium and sodium hydroxide; hydrofluoric acid (any concentration); and sulfur dioxide should not be stored in glass.
Metal Compatibility
Most acids, bases, sodium hypochlorite, and thionyl chloride should not be stored in metal (e.g. steel).
Plastic Compatibility
Chemical resistance of different plastics varies greatly. Very few plastics are acceptable for the storage of strong oxidizing agents; polystyrene (common) is acceptable for the storage of aliphatic alcohols and bases, but should not be used with ketones or aliphatic, aromatic, or halogenated hydrocarbons.
Fisher Scientific provides an excellent reference for the chemical resistance of various container materials.
Fisher Chemical Stockroom Handbook (p. 11-12, 15-17). Link is provided here.
The compatibility overview provided above lists examples of pure chemicals that are incompatible with certain container materials. This may not be applicable to mixtures. Further definition:
Aliphatic means the alcohol or hydrocarbon does not have ring structures. Examples are hexane, ethylene, isooctane and acetylene.
Aromatic hydrocarbons contain one or more benzene rings. Examples include toluene, naphthalene and phenanthrene. In practice, you would be tipped off that this might be a problem if a container is being “recycled” and used to collect waste chemicals of a different class. In that case, you should consult the Fisher reference to determine if you should cite this checklist item. Then, assist the laboratory contact to identify a suitable container and instruct them to transfer the waste. This should be done before the final report is issued since a container can fail relatively quickly if it is not compatible with the contents.
As a side note, plastic containers used by EHS are typically constructed of high density polyethylene, which is a very robust and chemical-resistant container material that is suitable for most chemicals.