From: Mary Beth Mulcahy <mulcahy.marybeth**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Inquiry on safety & hazardous waste compliance for universities
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 17:09:24 -0700
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: CAMK77sAdFF0622FVPXypyCtTDWxauhtWd-BF=WhRNbAR9ykbRA**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To


This list serve and personal email conversations have been fascinating on this topic. I'm going to send the responses off tonight, but I did want to say that the person making the inquiry was not (to my understanding) in a rule-making mode, but rather troubleshooting compliance issues in their region. That being said, the RCRA/laboratory history lesson the list serve provided I think will do a lot to shed light on the complexities universities face. Thanks so much for everyone's time.

Mary Beth

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 1:57 PM, Robin M. Izzo <rmizzo**At_Symbol_Here**princeton.edu> wrote:

I echo what Pete Reinhardt recommended. It would be helpful to understand the background of the person making the request. The EPA recently collected comments on its proposed changes to RCRA rules regarding hazardous waste, and these changes will affect colleges and universities. If this is someone who is working on that Generator Rule, then I recommend that he speak with representatives from DCHAS, CSHEMA and others. CSHEMA has reached out to EPA to suggest such a conversation.. The people working on the new generator rules include individuals who are well aware of college and university issues, having worked with several of us before issuing Subpart K.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Robin M. Izzo

Director

Environmental Health and Safety
Princeton University

609-258-6259 (office)

Visit the EHS website at ehs.princeton.edu

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Reinhardt, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 2:47 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Inquiry on safety & hazardous waste compliance for universities

Chapter 11 of the 2011 edition of Prudent Practices in the Laboratory (National Academies Press) has a thorough discussion of regulations and standards that apply to laboratories. Another good reference is the 2008 edition of the Environmental Compliance Guide for Colleges and Universities, published by APPA and CSHEMA. Also, the ACS Task Force on Laboratory Chemical and Waste Management published Laboratory Waste Management: A Guidebook. The second edition is published by Oxford Press.

Pete

Peter A. Reinhardt

Director, Office of Environmental Health & Safety

Yale University

135 College St., Suite 100

New Haven, CT 06510-2411

(203) 737-2123

peter.reinhardt**At_Symbol_Here**yale.edu

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Mary Beth Mulcahy
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 2:30 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Inquiry on safety & hazardous waste compliance for universities

All, I recently had a conversation with a colleague from EPA concerning hazardous waste compliance for universities, and in our conversation I offered to post an email from him on this list-serve to tap into its collective knowledge (see his email below).

"I am in the process of developing a hazardous waste compliance assistance program for colleges and universities (truly any post-secondary learning institution).. Congress asked us [EPA] to regulate the management of hazardous waste through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). We've routinely done inspections and regrettably find that universities tend to have numerous challenges with waste identification and management. I'm hoping your professional experience in both investigations and education (both as an educator and for the American Chemical Society) can help me find a more effective path than what we have pursued in the past."

So, ideas anyone?

One thing that struck me during the conversation was an article that I saw printed in JCHAS I think in 2010 that listed the numerous federal/state regulations a university was subject to. I remember being surprised by the number of requirements, and thought it would be insightful for this person as well. Despite searching my paper copies of JXHAS and JCHAS' search engine, I'm coming up empty. Any chance someone remembers an article like that?

I'll forward any posts on the topic.

Thanks,

Mary Beth


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