University of Illinois Chicago
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

UIC reduces hazardous waste wherever possible. The Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHSO) employs a waste minimization policy in which certain chemicals are encouraged to be properly disposed in a more environmentally friendly way. Chemicals like Ethidium Bromide are encouraged to be substituted for less hazardous alternatives. Other chemicals like formaldehyde are required to be neutralized prior to disposal. Some other hazardous chemicals like solvents are reclaimed through fractional distillation columns, housed in EHSO as well as the Department of Chemistry. UIC also recycles alkaline batteries (universal waste). Unwanted chemicals are given to other researchers via the Chemical Redistribution Program as opposed to disposing of the chemicals as waste.

Chemical waste is picked up and briefly held at the Environmental Waste Facility. The waste is picked up by Clean Harbors, a third party contractor, to properly dispose of the waste following all state and federal guidelines. UIC uses a reputable waste vendor who transports our hazardous waste to a Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility (TSDF) where it is treated in accordance with state and federal environmental regulations.

The UIC transportation and East and West Co-generation plants have a Spill Prevention program in place to handle any spills that might occur from oil tanks and oil filled equipment. Between these three sites, there is over 200,000 gallons of oil. Each site has spill equipment to handle minor spills and have procedures in place to handle large spills. In the previous three years, no major spills have occurred at UIC.

UIC employs a campus-wide Chemical Redistribution Program that users can freely donate chemicals to or take chemicals at their leisure. Laboratories are encouraged to update their chemical inventories annually and donate any unneeded chemicals by filing a Chemical Redistribution Form. Then, the UIC Scientific Supply Center stocks the useable chemicals on the shelf for any UIC faculty, staff, or student to use in their research. UIC also facilitates the reuse of chemicals through the UIC Green Labs Committee, which meets bi-monthly. Members are able to communicate via social media as well as a listserv to request redistributed chemicals and supplies.

All electronic equipment such as computers, printers, monitors, and televisions are considered state property and managed under the University’s Property Accounting program. Since 2008, the University has disposed of electronic devices through an electronics recycler. Any equipment that is no longer needed is reported on a special form to the Office of Business and Financial Services, University Property Accounting and Reporting. Once they have processed the form, units must be removed intact to the surplus warehouse. This material is then managed through the University of Illinois central administration in compliance with all state mandated requirements for disposal of electronics. The University of Illinois complies with state law, which requires elimination of electronic data from scrapped items and environmentally sound disposition practices. As such, the University disposes of electronic scrap equipment through State of Illinois contracted service providers to ensure recycling of usable items and environmentally responsible disposition of unusable items. Additionally, UIC has a history of organizing a large scale event titled "the Great Stuff eXchange" in which departments and students can drop off/pick up office supplies/electronic items at no cost. Any electronic equipment belonging to the university - computers, monitors, peripherals, copiers, fax machines, lab equipment - must be disposed of through a recycler that manages the materials in an environmentally sound process. The vendor we partner with, New Star, includes a hard drive shredder to ensure data is completely erased and destroyed