Boston University
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

A Chemical Waste Minimization plan has been developed which describes methods (including inventory management, scaling, substitution and waste stream management) laboratory staff can utilize to reduce the amount of chemical wastes they generate. BU Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) also offers a program to subsidize the cost of solvent recycling for interested laboratories. Wastes from photo-processing operations are filtered to remove contaminants to avoid the collection of the entire liquid waste stream. Boston University is actively replacing fluorescent fixtures with LED lighting which removes mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs on campus. Oil-water separators have been installed on air compressors significantly decreasing oil waste throughout campus. The environmental team has developed a laboratory supply redistribution center and has successfully re-distributed some laboratory supplies including used coats and empty solvent bottles. The Associate Director of Environmental Management is an active member of the infrastructure and logistics working group for the Boston University zero waste task force.

Chemical waste training is part of the mandatory annual training which every researcher receives, and each laboratory is inspected for compliance at least twice per year. Wastes which are collected inside the laboratory are removed and managed through final disposal by EHS staff. This program includes many chemicals which are not technically regulated chemical wastes, but are kept from the environment as a best management practice. Facilities personnel who manage universal wastes are also trained annually on their proper collection and segregation, with dozens of dedicated areas set up for their safe collection. EHS oversees the disposal of universal waste to only approved endpoints. As part of the pandemic response, custodial waste training was added to BioRaft so that training can take place remotely.

There have been no hazardous materials releases within the past three years.

The BioRaft data management system is online at both campuses and being utilized for many purposes including, inventory management, waste pickup requests, and training. The environmental team has established a chemical and laboratory supply re-distribution area and is actively collecting items and reagents for re-distribution. At present, the re-distribution area has re-distributed many lab-coats and empty reagent bottles. A space has now been selected and we have begun collecting chemicals and laboratory items for redistribution.

Complete Recycling Solutions (CRS), an R2 certified facility, manages electronic waste throughout campus. Trucking removes electronic equipment throughout campus upon request and transports it to a pickup location where our vendor-CRS removes these items for recycling.

The main electronic items like refrigerators and microwaves are provided to the students for use each school year. At the end of the year, they are collected and cleaned for redistribution the following year. At the end of each school year, electronic items and anything else the students do not take with them is collected and offered to Goodwill. Any electronic waste that cannot be used by Goodwill is collected by CRS for recycling. Additionally, electronic waste collection/universal waste collection areas are present at all dormitories, and other select locations throughout campus.

BU also contracts with Allied Computer Brokers (ACB). ACB provides comprehensive recycling services for all types of electronic waste collected on campus. ACB alleviates the burden in determining the proper disposal methodology, while providing an environmental liability defense from improper disposal.

This represents FY2021 BU Metrics.

https://www.bu.edu/sustainability/how-to/recycle/

http://www.bu.edu/ehs/files/2016/08/Pollution-Prevention-and-Chemical-Waste-Minimization-Current.pdf