The Ohio State University is committed to the protection of human health and the environment. As such, the University strongly encourages faculty, staff, and students to utilize the various chemical minimization methods to reduce the quantity and toxicity of chemical wastes generated on campus. An important benefit of waste minimization is that it should reduce the ever increasing disposal costs, especially with the current and anticipated changes to state and federal regulations.
Knowledge Base
What is a hazardous waste?
The first step in any pollution prevention plan is to understand what is a hazardous waste. Once you know what constitutes a hazardous waste, then you are able to evaluate your processes to determine whether you are a generator of hazardous waste. At this point you can put into practice your strategies for reducing your waste generation.
Topic: Environmental Affairs
The collection, transportation and characterization of hazardous chemical waste at the Ohio State University falls under the direction of the Environmental Affairs program. In accordance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) the program encourages generators to utilize various chemical minimization methods to reuse, reduce the quantity and toxicity of chemical waste.
What is hazardous waste?
Many materials that laboratories submit as chemical waste are actually surplus chemicals that are reusable. As part of Environmental Health and Safety’s (EHS) commitment to waste minimization, the Chemical Redistribution Program accepts both opened and unopened containers of unwanted chemicals from laboratories and service areas throughout campus. This Program has successfully redistributed over one million dollars in usable chemicals that otherwise would have cost more than four times that amount for disposal.
Topic: Environmental Affairs