Okanagan College
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

To reduce costs and potential risk of hazardous products, efforts are underway to assess the use of various chemicals in experiments (reduce concentrations, volumes). For example, we now use order specimens for of biological dissection freeze dried as opposed to using formaldehyde and other toxic preservatives.
Chemical inventories are being tightly managed and the old adage of ‘economy of scale’ is no longer the norm. Purchase of minimum volumes to reduce storage and waste is now the goal.

The removal of hazardous waste from each Campus requires a detailed description of the waste material products. A form is required for the waste producing area to complete that identifies the chem waste volume, content and safety procedures in case of spill or exposure.
The College contracts at the end of each semester with a certified removal company to meet WHMIS and TDG labeling requirements when picking up our waste for disposal.
Broken glass from laboratories is now being autoclaved prior to disposal to ensure that the cleaned glass can be included with regular recycle glass versus haz waste, as previously disposed.
Selecting products for their eco or recycle options. Waste spray paint is separated into water and solids. The solids are picked up at no cost by the paint supplier.
Enclosing volatile storage into a single, secure location (oxy-acetylene) to reduce portable compressed gas canisters and multiple locations. Gas is feed on an on-demand line system.
Recycle used oil and filters – a new recycle ‘depot’ is planned for our new trades expansion to highlight and encourage participation not only from classroom waste, but from staff as well.

There were no significant hazardous material releases over the reporting period or the 3 previous years.

Our inventory system keeps track of what chemicals we have, their alternate name, their grade (e.g. 98% pure), their type (e.g. organic, inorganic), their amount, last year's amount, their location(s), storage code (e.g. oxidizers, acids), what experiments they are used in, their required amount (both total and broken down by experiment), supplier name, supplier catalog #, last two amounts ordered from supplier, last two dates ordered from supplier, supplier unit (e.g. case, package), their UN#, their class, their subclass, their CAS #, and their packing number.

It allows sorting in 3 different ways: by chemical type, storage location (for fire department), and various ways to speed up inventory taking and data entry.

e-waste is collected from all departments by facilities staff and shipped to Tech Cominco’s Trail smelting operation. There it is crushed and fed into a blast furnace. All precious metals are recovered and all emissions are cleaned through a scrubber.