University of Nevada Las Vegas
Tier2-4: Chemical Reuse Inventory

UNLV has implemented a campus-wide inventory system called CHIMERA which lists all chemicals on campus and provided MSDS sheets for each chemical. Each chemical on the inventory is barcoded and the inventory of all chemicals is performed each year by scanning the barcodes and adding barcodes for new chemicals not yet in the system. This system allows the department to periodically review the chemicals that are on campus. In addition, UNLV has a waste pickup request from on the Risk Management Website. This allows campus constituents to request pickup of chemicals and wastes. All wastes, usable chemicals and outdated chemicals are collected at one location on each of two campuses. In this way we are able to assess the chemicals and determine if we can reuse or recycle them. This program has a good record of reusing chemicals. Our Hazardous Materials Safety Technician who operates our waste chemical storage area, routinely reviews and assesses the chemicals and communicates with various departments to determine if they can use chemicals we have in the reusable inventory. This program is successful, as well . One other program is also employed to reduce excess chemical waste. We evaluate the needs of departments and try to minimize the quantity that they order. UNLV departments used to order quantities that resulted in excess that had to be wasted or recycled. We now review how much is on hand versus how much is ordered in order to minimize the waste quantities. This program has reduced the quantity of excess/waste.