James Madison University
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

JMU continuously monitors hazardous waste streams to look for opportunities to reduce waste. Examples from past steps taken include tweaking a particular experiment in a high-volume waste chemistry lab so that less waste is generated or that the waste is no longer hazardous. Another mechanism used in the past is the building of partnerships with our hazardous waste contractors to determine if a particular waste can go to fuel blending or recycling instead of disposal.

Waste is accumulated in designated “hazardous waste accumulation” areas where it is labeled “hazardous waste,” dated with a container number, and placed on an inventory.  These accumulation areas are inspected weekly to ensure that all labeling is present and that containers are intact and not leaking. Inventories are then provided to the hazardous waste contractor approximately 30 days before the scheduled pick-up to give the contractor time to determine appropriate destinations for all the waste streams and to get disposal-site approvals. When the contractor comes to campus to take the hazardous waste, a staff member escorts the contractor to all the accumulation areas where the waste is packaged according to regulatory requirements. All manifest and package list paperwork is generated and signed. A truck removes the waste. After 30 days, a staff member ensures that all final signed manifests have been received.

No significant hazardous material releases have occurred within the past three years. Each year, though, the JMU HazMat team will respond to a handful of incidents involving fluid leaks from vehicles but none have required outside support beyond JMU's HazMat team. If a release occurs beyond an incidental spill, the JMU police department would call the Harrisonburg Fire Department to have their HazMat team respond.

JMU uses Vertere Chemical Management System in the academic buildings. When chemicals arrive to campus, all are barcoded and entered into Vertere. The buildings periodically undergo a physical inventory where all the barcoded chemicals are scanned and reconciled with what the electronic inventory in Vertere indicates are present. With this system, users are able to search for a chemical's location only under their department's control to preserve security and due to the fact JMU is not equipped to transport chemicals over the road. In some instances when requested, however, certain staff can search the entire inventory system and are able to walk a chemical to a nearby building to be used, if it is feasible to transport by foot and sufficient containment equipment is available.

For institutional property, JMU has a Surplus Property program that first offers working electronic equipment to other departments on campus. If equipment is not able to be reused internally, Surplus Property Staff will offer the equipment to other state agencies free of charge. Remaining equipment is then offered for sale to localities and approved non-profits before it is offered for sale to the general public online through govdeals.com or through public sales held every year or two. Computer surplus equipment can also be donated to local schools, when requested. Lastly, if the equipment is non-functional or does not sell, items will then be recycled through recyclers certified under e-Stewards and/or R2 standards.

For electronic waste generated by students, the Office of Residence Life has two programs in place to reuse/recycle e-waste: 1) "Why Wait? Donate!" is a program during move-out where electronics are collected and donated to charities with reuse in mind. 2) Special bins are placed in every residence hall to collect small electronic waste. For larger items, signage and brochures provide contact information on how to have the Recycling Department collect and recycle these items, all of which will be recycled by a recycler certified under e-Stewards and/or R2 standards.

Reviewed by Marcella Mullenax and Jason Rexrode