Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

The hazardous waste collection process is constantly striving to eliminate the use and disposal of harmful substances, for example most areas within NAIT are eliminating the use of mercury in their labs and have found alternative products – mercury thermometers with spirit thermometers, mercury manometers, vacuum gauges & barometers with digital equipment. All containers have labels to identify the type of waste. Additionally: • Condense/minimize quantities for disposal; by identifying those that can be either recovered or disposed of by normal routes (please consult if you require further clarification). • A record/manifest of all waste generated by individual groups are used to keep a historical record of waste generated by NAIT, for the future planning of Hazardous Waste Management. The bio-hazardous waste generated by programs/groups within NAIT is collected centrally for disposal. Collection of such waste centrally is on an as needed basis. The bio-hazardous waste collected is then transported from NAIT for disposal by an approved and licensed outside agency. In order to keep the volumes of bio-hazardous waste generated to a minimum, the following guidelines are used: • Is there any Federal or Provincial legislation for bio-hazardous waste disposal which is applicable to the type of waste you have generated? • Is it environmentally a good practice to dispose of the bio-hazardous waste through normal municipal disposal routes? • Proposed changes in the future may include stricter enforcement of bio-hazardous waste disposal - closer watch on such development. • Some known bio-hazardous waste, as long as it is rendered non-infectious may be disposed of using municipal system. • Some microbiological waste, common bacteria cultures/plates may be made safer after autoclaving for longer period, longer than 15 min.

The collection, storage and disposal of all the hazardous waste materials generated by NAIT is coordinated and processed by the Chemical Technology Program in the School of Sustainable Building & Environmental Management. The hazardous waste received are processed before they are scheduled for disposal – condensed and consolidated to reduce quantity, recycled or recovered (silver) for future use, grouped for land fill processing or sent for recycling (oil, paint, battery, etc). The hazardous waste is then collected from NAIT for disposal by an outside disposal agency (registered and licensed) at prearranged times during the year. All hazardous waste for disposal from various departments, both solids and liquids, are clearly identified accompanied by a completed manifest form. The liquid waste for disposal are classified, wherever possible, into the following broad categories: • Inorganic Solutions & Corrosive Liquids o Heavy Metals: Lead, Cobalt etc. o Acids o Bases o Cyanide & Arsenic o Aqueous Phenol o Hydrofluoric Acid o Photo-chemicals • Printing Solution o Blanket Wash o Offset Fluid, etc. o Non-Halogenated Solvents (Organic) o Halogenated Solvents (Organic) o Aqueous < 20% Organic o Ether • Petroleum o Heavy Petroleum (Bitumen) o Petroleum Distillate o Oils (hydraulic, engine, etc.) o Paraffin Wax in Solvent • Paint or paint solvent with paint • Organic Acids & Bases • Formaldehyde/Formalin • Picric Acid • Dyes & Stains o Aqueous o Non-Aqueous • Contaminated Plastics o Polyurethane Resin • Fibre Glass The solid waste for disposal into the following categories: • Solids o Organic o Inorganic • Mercury Contaminants (amalgam) • Asbestos • Batteries • Elemental Mercury ALL WASTE GENERATED MUST HAVE LABELS TO IDENTIFY ITS CONTENTS Large quantities of liquid waste are stored in their respective areas, prior to disposal, in specified containers: • Organic Flammable - red, flame arrestor safety cans • Organic Non-Flammable - red jerry cans • Organic Acids & Bases - glass winchester bottles • Ether & Petroleum - red, flame arrestor safety cans • Inorganic Solutions - glass/plastic containers • Non-halogenated chemicals – 200L drum • Petroleum products – 200L drum • Photochemistry chemicals – 200L drum • Heavy metals – 200L drum The 200L drums are supplied by the hazardous waste contractor for storage in between pickups, which typically happen twice per year. Guidelines for the Central Collection of bio-hazardous waste • All solid bio-hazardous waste for disposal/incineration must contain less than 5% liquid/water - tissues in formalin. • Containers for the storage/collection of bio-hazardous waste, which are destined for incineration, must be made of non-halogenated material - produce HCl. • Recommended containers/bags with identity labels must be used for the collection & storage of bio-hazardous waste. • It is preferable, but not necessary, that all Sharps waste (medical & micro biological) be autoclaved after collection, before they are shipped to the central location for disposal. • All bio-hazardous waste brought to the designated central location at prearranged times (weekly on Fridays) are accompanied with signed manifest sheet.

There were no significant hazardous material release incidents in the previous three years. The only event to mention is when a technologist was consolidating waste in room G001B and chemical burst happened. It is believed to be directly related to the room temperature being warm (up to 27 degrees Celsius). As the result of the chemical burst, the technologist had to change her clothes and shoes. Fortunately it did not release chemicals directly on to her hair or skin, however the resulting chemical product was eating through the nitrile gloves. In the event if the significant release happens, the room where the waste chemicals are stored (before being picked up by external contractors for disposal) has a closed drainage system under the floor which would safely contain the spill.

Reuse of Laboratory items At NAIT we operate both the hazardous waste disposal and the Central Chemical Inventory system under the same umbrella to alleviate unnecessary disposal of chemicals and distribution of chemicals used in different areas. For example, at one point in time, the Electronics department ordered from our Central Chemical Inventory several bottles of iso-propyl alcohol. A few years later they decided that they did not require this chemical and submitted it for disposal. From the history of different users of chemicals from our Central Chemical Inventory system we identified another user of this chemical and re-directed this chemical for their use instead of sending it for waste. In the Chemical Technology program the students make products in their Organic Lab and when they are finished we have to dispose these products as hazardous waste. In a different lab session they analyze products which we purchase. Instead of purchasing more chemicals we re-designed this lab to use the product they produced from their previous lab. We use halogenated solvents for extraction of clove oil from cloves and we recover and purify this solvent for future use and at the same time alleviate the need for disposal. There is an informal network between industry and NAIT to pass on unwanted laboratory materials (chemicals, glassware, equipment, etc). We in return do the same with our laboratory materials by passing unwanted items to other similar institutions (both secondary & post-secondary) who can utilize them.

As above

All electronic waste is picked up by the Distribution group and disposed of through Alberta Government Surplus. Alberta Government Surplus uses Alberta Government approved e-waste recyclers. All surplus electronic waste becomes the responsibility of the Materials Management Department. First step is for the department to declare item surplus by filling out a Surplus/movement form. It is then brought to the Distribution warehouse where an ISD representative removes the hard drives and any parts deemed to be reusable (i.e. usb ports, memory cards, speakers etc). The hard drives are separated and taken to a metal shredder company that shreds the hard drives and recycles the components. The rest of the computer and parts are then taken to a government approved facility for recycling.