SUMMARY:
Sources
Middlebury College generates hazardous waste from two main sources: the Science Center and Facilities Management.
Material from the Science Center is generally associated with educational purposes, notably chemicals required for laboratory experiments, and chemical wastes generated during laboratory experiments. Material from Facilities Management is associated with the day-to-day running of the college, and includes light bulbs, motor oil, paint, and batteries.
Methods of Disposal
Hazardous material is disposed of through specialist commercial companies. These are selected based on a bid system, which takes into account the lowest bid, waste handling methods, disposal methods, etc. Several companies are used by the college, each specializing in disposal of a different form of waste. A list of companies is presented in the data. Long-term safe storage of hazardous material remains the responsibility of the college throughout the entire lifetime of the material. We are responsible for any problems associated with the transport, treatment or disposal of the waste forever. Furthermore, we are responsible for problems caused by materials generated by other sources which are disposed of at the same site; this is a serious responsibility, and is treated as such by the College, which maintains records of long-term storage of material.
General Decline in Facilities Use of Hazardous Materials
Data from Facilities Management indicate a situation in which quantities of hazardous waste materials have been generally either static or slowly declining over time. This trend is true for paint thinner and waste paint (oil and latex), waste motor oil, and most forms of light bulbs, and is true for both absolute quantities and for quantities per full-time or part-time staff employee. (Thus, changes in the number of employees over time do not appear to affect the hazardous waste statistics.)
Increasing Use of Lead-Acid Batteries & Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Some materials, however, show an increasing trend over time. This is true for lead-acid batteries, and for fluorescent light bulbs. Lead-acid batteries in particular are showing an increase in recent years, and they do not appear to be explained by rising numbers of people employed at the college. When compared with total numbers employed as staff, the weight of lead-acid batteries used per staff member (full-time and part-time) has increased from less than one pound per person in 1994 to 1.25 per person in 1997; when compared with total numbers of faculty and staff (full-time and part-time), the increase is from 0.7 pounds of batteries per person to 1.0. However, this analysis must be treated with some caution since the employee data are on the basis of academic year, while the hazardous materials data are on the basis of calendar year. These numbers must be considered in the context that quantities of materials like lead-acid batteries and fluorescent bulbs are cyclical in nature, and not shipped on a regular basis.
Data From Science Center Difficult to Quantify
Data on exact quantities of hazardous material generated by the Science Center are not available. Records of material disposed of are kept on the basis of the size of container shipped, as opposed to the quantity of material in the container. It is therefore difficult to determine any trends associated with generation of hazardous waste from this source.
Data on hazardous waste disposal from Facilities Management (absolute quantities)
| 1997 |
1996 |
1995 |
1994 |
|---|
| Paint Thinner (gallons) |
220 |
275 |
165 |
| Oil Paint Waste (gallons) |
55 |
| Latex Paint Waste (gallons) |
55 |
55 |
| Waste Motor oil (gallons) |
500 |
450 |
550 |
550 |
| Lead Acid Batteries (pounds) |
1100 |
750 |
460 |
669 |
| Other Batteries (pounds) |
1091 |
1132 |
| Fluorescent Bulbs (feet) |
17000 |
14642 |
| U style Bulbs |
71 |
340 |
| HID (High Intensity Discharge) Bulbs |
71 |
291 |
| Compact Fluorescent Bulbs |
115 |
List of hazardous waste disposal companies utilized by Middlebury College:
Clean Harbors Inc., MA (Science Center)
Full Circle
35 Maple Street
East Hampton, MA 01027
(Fluorescent light bulbs and all batteries besides lead-acid)
Laidlaw Environmental Services
221 Sutton St
Andover, MA 01845
(Waste paint and thinner)
Total Waste Management
c/o Texaco
PO Box 100178
Atlanta, GA 30384-0178
(Waste motor oil)
Interstate Batteries
29 Berard Drive
PO Box 9309
South Burlington, VT 05407
(Lead-acid batteries)
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Standardize record-keeping. Awareness must be raised among those responsible for hazardous waste disposal at the college that data on hazardous waste trends will be collected on a regular (annual?) basis by the Environmental Council's audit subcommittee. At present, the data exist, but take time to access. In order to track trends related to reduction efforts, some standardized data recording system, such as a spreadsheet, should be devised for Facilities Management. The above can be extended to a recommendation to implement a more detailed record-keeping system for the Science Center, to facilitate the writing and accuracy of this audit in the future.
(Note: The current burden of paperwork required by federal and state agencies is extensive. Perhaps the Environmental Council can find ways to work with the current system of data collection in order to track reduction efforts.)
2. Monitor lead-acid battery use. The growth in the number of lead-acid batteries being disposed of by Facilities Management should be monitored, to determine if this is a factor of cyclical nature or a true trend. It should be noted that lead-acid batteries are fully recyclable, however efforts at reduction are to be encouraged.
3. Minimize purchasing of hazardous chemicals in Science Center. Awareness in the Science Center should be checked, and raised, to ensure that as small a quantity of hazardous chemicals as possible is ordered for use in teaching labs. This is largely the case already, but should continue to be encouraged in the development of new experiments.
SOURCES:
All information on hazardous waste disposal techniques, quantities of material, and companies employed by Middlebury College comes from Tim Wickland (Science Center) and Norm Cushman (Facilities Management). Data on numbers employed at Middlebury College were obtained by Environmental Coordinator Jen Hazen. The assistance of these individuals in preparing this report is gratefully acknowledged.
COMPILED BY:
Dan Bedford
(NOTE: April Smith recommended that this chapter be expanded in the future to address toxics issues in art facilities and in Custodial Services. It was not possible to accomplish this in 1998, but hopefully these concerns will be addressed in the next report.)