Wartburg College
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

In 1999 a position was created to care for the details and management of hazardous chemical waste in the science building, then Becker Hall. While chemistry professors understood the laws of RCRA – Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 , it was difficult to simply add this to the chair’s tasks, in my opinion. Marilyn Kidd organized large scale hazardous waste pickups of items from Becker Hall. When I began working here in 2001, I took over the management of hazardous waste and the annual pickups by a licensed waste hauler. For more details see our CHP – Chemical Hygiene Plan and Hazardous Waste Plan in pdf format under the Security and Safety office on our campus website listed below.

http://www.wartburg.edu/security/hazardous.pdf
http://www.wartburg.edu/security/ChemicalHygienePlan.pdf

The main two steps to reduce hazardous and non-regulated chemical waste is maintaining an accurate inventory of the chemicals in the Science Center and having a more centralized ordering of chemicals as well. I carry out both of these tasks. Before 2001 it was common for the professors to order what they needed for labs via purchase order, and soon after I began working here I used a campus credit card and ordered all supplies, chemicals, and specimens used in the biology department. When Denis Drolet became chair of the chemistry department in 2003, I began to carry out this ordering for that department as well.

In addition, I maintain a chemical inventory of all the chemical storage locations in the Science Center on my computer as well. This listing is updated annually. And when professors need a chemical and a different department already has some in the building, I borrow and move it and put it back, instead of rushing to order more. This rather low-keyed approach just makes sense. We also have a storeroom of some acids, alcohols, and acetone that are used by both departments and are purchased one time each year in bulk.

As for the universal wastes, my knowledge of these are the used fluorescent lamps, used oil, and devices which contain mercury (switches, etc.). The maintenance department and John Wuertz and Scott Sharar are responsible for the campus wide disposal of universal wastes. (To my knowledge.) They also take care of the biohazardous waste from sharps containers and blood borne pathogen waste cleanups as far as a vendor who removes these wastes from campus.

The annual disposal of hazardous chemical wastes is budgeted for through the security and safety departments (John Myer) and has been carried out every year since I’ve been here in 2001. (And it was done a few times before then too.) I am in contact with professors in the biology and chemistry/engineering science departments directly to train them to gather chemical waste from teaching and research labs and contact me. They label the bottles (with percentages of each chemical) and I will come pick it up or they can bring it to room 242 where we store hazardous chemical wastes until the annual pickup. I manage the waste by making a waste determination, filling out Wartburg waste label, filling out waste logsheets, and keeping a running list on an Excel spreadsheet on my computer. In the summer this spreadsheet is emailed to our licensed waste hauler, CleanHarbors, and they let John Myers know the cost for that pickup. We set a date for the pickup during summer (when the student, faculty and staff populations on campus are low) for safety’s sake.

Also, during my chemical inventorying process I will remove older bottles of chemicals and question the departments’ faculty members if these items are still needed. If not, those bottles of chemicals which are hazardous are disposed of at the annual pickup. (I either know or ask the other department if they want the chemical and will share it, thus reducing waste.)