York University
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

1) Outlined in Standard Operating Procedure for Disposing Hazardous Chemicals, the Principal Investigator and/or lab supervisor play a key role in the health and safety training of staff and students working in their research or teaching facilities, including waste handling. They must must monitor or designate the use of hazardous chemicals to verify proper waste disposal. 2) In addition, by increasing awareness and engaging students to become responsible for removing their own waste, they will have a greater awareness of the waste they produce and the correct way to dispose of it. 3) York University is shifting from fluorescent lighting to LED lighting for all exterior lights, reducing the generation of hazardous waste from fluorescent tubes.
4) From an academics perspective, labs at York University have made steps to reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals used, by substituting for less hazardous chemicals. For example, safer alternatives for Ethidium Bromide stains and substituting methanol for ethanol is some experiments and applications. Many of the teaching labs have moved towards smaller scale experiments and synthesis.

Waste disposal guidelines for laboratories: - All waste containers, bottles, etc must have a hazardous waste label. - Individuals must follow protocols to segregate and collect Hazardous Waste - Drop off of hazardous waste is carried out on a weekly basis and supervised by the FSE Health and Safety Officer, and will not be accepted unless all procedures for packaging and labelling are observed. All other hazardous materials are safely collected for responsible disposal, including but not limited to: asbestos, paint, chemicals, antifreeze, propane tanks, etc. All hazardous materials are collected at the source, then picked up for temporary on site storage from loading docks throughout the University and collected by certified third parties on a regular basis. The vendor used for hazardous waste is different than Facilities/Grounds, Photech Environmental Solutions Inc, and specialize in disposing hazardous waste which ultimately aids in more solvent recovery.

There haven't been any significant release incidents in the past 3 years.

The Health and Safety department in the Faculty of Science is continually trying to improve the chemical waste disposal process at York, with the aim to reduce the amount of chemicals sent for disposal, and the associated costs. One component put into place is the collection of usable chemicals that are still in good condition (i.e. in the original supplier bottle). The department maintains an inventory on Excel of chemicals that are available for reuse. The inventory is circulated periodically, and the chemicals are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The Faculty of Science is currently working on a robust and dynamic database that will help facilitate the sharing of chemicals between labs.

Through the Zero Waste program, any community member can properly dispose of e-waste, including computers, printer cartridges, batteries, and other items. All e-waste is collected by Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES) approved collectors, and is processed within the province. Community members may leave all other types of e-waste at any loading dock near the communal tri-bin waste stations. For a significant amount of e-waste, faculty are asked to fill out a Service Request.

OES is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization that operates the regulated recycling program in Ontario. OES ensures that end-of-life electronics are handled in a safe, secure and environmentally-sound manner. York’s collectors/processors are ISO 14001 certified and estimate that a minimum of 85 per cent of the components from the e-waste processed are recycled.