Hazardous Waste Disposal: An Offal Problem For Laboratories

During the past decade, colleges and universities throughout the United States have found themselves grappling with an increasingly nettlesome problem: how, in a cost-effective way, to get rid of the hazardous waste material generated by their labs. Although academic labs account for a tiny fraction of the hazardous wastes produced nationwide--probably less than 1 percent--they must abide by the same stringent regulations as those imposed upon the industrial plants that produce most of the other 99 percent. To make matters worse, while an industrial plant may produce large quantities of a dozen or so different substances, an academic lab typically produces hundreds--or even thousands--of different waste products, some in quantities as small as a gram. Although commercial disposal firms make their money hauling away waste by the truckload, most of them cannot--or simply don't want to--deal with such a small and complex waste stream. Federal regulations hold the institution or person generating hazardous wastes responsible for them in perpetuity. However, says Edward Gershey, director of laboratory safety at Rockefeller University in New York, "it's difficult for us to exercise that responsibility." He points out that it is most cost-effective for a hauler to deal with large amounts of a specific type of waste, especially if the material can be recycled for a secondary purpose. Research leftovers, by contrast, often have to be "lab-packed," an expensive and time-consuming process in which individual containers of chemicals, often only partially full, are packed into 55-gallon drums filled with vermiculite. Incompatible substances--those that may explode or produce toxic gases, for example--must be packed in separate drums. In addition, transport and disposal facilities are licensed for particular wastes, and if the operators of these facilities are not permitted to take one component of a lab pack, they'll send the whole drum back. The cost of packing, transporting, and disposing of a lab pack is usually several hundred dollars. In addition, while an academic institution has the same strict and perpetual liabilities for its hazardous wastes as a larger generator, it often lacks the clout needed to control where and how the waste is disposed of once it leaves the lab. Federal legislation governing hazardous waste disposal is primarily contained in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA--commonly known as "recra"), first passed by Congress in 1976, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as the "Superfund" law), first passed in 1980. Under RCRA, waste generators are accountable for their wastes, and they must keep detailed records of wastes from the substances' creation until their eventual disposal. CERCLA "kicks in after that," according to Rick Reibstein, manager of the Small Quantity Toxic User Program for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. The Superfund law "is the scariest liability that's ever been [included] in American law," says Reibstein, also an attorney. Under Superfund legislation, hazardous waste generators are responsible for the waste they generate, not just until the products are landfilled or otherwise disposed of, but forever. Liability is retroactive, covering waste generated before the law was enacted; it is "joint and several," which means all users of a disposal site are equally responsible for the wastes stored there, whether they contributed 1 percent or 99 percent. Finally, the law mandates "strict liability"--a waste generator that does everything correctly and legally is still liable if something, someday, goes wrong. To confuse the issue even more, state laws are often different from and more stringent than federal laws, and those responsible for lab waste disposal must be familiar with a complex web of state, federal, and even municipal regulations. According to Gershey, these laws severely restrict the options open to laboratories needing to process and store their wastes. State and federal laws generally forbid the treatment of hazardous wastes without a TSDF (treatment, storage, and disposal facility) permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency--a permit that is difficult to obtain and prohibitively expensive for most academic institutions. In addition, these regulations prohibit storage of hazardous wastes for more than either 90 days or 180 days, depending on how much waste is generated each month. "Without [a permit], one cannot really manipulate materials very much," says Gershey. "It's actually a disincentive to minimization efforts and cooperative agreements [between schools or laboratories]." For example, Gershey and colleagues at Rockefeller have developed a technique for recycling methylene chloride, a solvent used in peptide synthesis. This technique, which results in a product that is 99.9 percent pure, can be used by individual labs at Rockefeller, but since the university does not have a TSDF permit, it cannot accept these wastes from any other institution for recycling. While all academic laboratories are covered by these regulations, a few very large and very small schools have found ways of dealing with their hazardous wastes that are economical in terms of both money and scarce landfill space. For example, Colorado College, a small, private, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, has taken advantage of its "small quantity generator, conditionally exempt" status under RCRA, granted because the school generates less than 100 kg of hazardous waste per month. Exemption from the storage and treatment regulations of larger institutions has enabled the college to develop an innovative program in which most hazardous chemicals produced are recycled or otherwise treated to substantially reduce their volume. In the summer of 1987, Colorado College embarked upon the construction of a $9 million science center. In the process of remodeling the older laboratories, roughly 250 kg of "under the sink" chemical wastes, such as organic wastes and reagents past their shelf life, were discovered. John DeLaHunt, environmental health and safety coordinator at the college, says that one hazardous waste disposal company estimated it would cost $25,000 to have those wastes lab-packed and shipped off for disposal. Rather than give this money to an outside contractor, the college instead created a staff position, filled by DeLaHunt, to treat chemicals on site. This position saves the college tens of thousands of dollars in disposal costs, according to DeLaHunt, who performs many other safety and environmental functions for the college as well. "Since we're conditionally exempt," says DeLaHunt, "we have no restrictions keeping us from treating or neutralizing hazardous wastes to reduce volume or hazard." For example, DeLaHunt can precipitate lead out of solution as a solid, allowing him to pour the water remaining down the drain. In two years, says DeLaHunt, he has accumulated less than a quart of such toxic heavy metals. Eventually, he plans on sending these minerals to metal reclamation firms. "That's a happy side effect for in-lab treatments, that maybe we can reclaim the substance for reuse by some other facility," he says. Before creating his position, says DeLaHunt, "the college didn't have an integrated approach to chemical waste." Because of the lack of record-keeping before RCRA, DeLa-Hunt is not sure how various wastes were dealt with, but he says that small amounts of chemicals were "bottled up, capped, bagged, boxed, packed in vermiculite, and thrown away. . . . not a very conscientious approach to hazardous waste." Today, however, the college not only is treating its waste in an environmentally sound manner, but also has not had to send out any lab-packed wastes since DeLaHunt began working there in 1988. "Our impact on landfills and incinerators is minimal," he says. At the other end of the spectrum, Stanford University, one of the largest research universities in the U.S., has dealt with RCRA regulations by getting state and federal permits allowing the university to store and treat various hazardous wastes. According to Harvey Chock, manager of Stanford's chemical waste program, the 1,500 to 2,000 different labs on campus together generate about 250,000 pounds of hazardous waste per year. On-site management and treatment of hazardous wastes at Stanford include consolidation of compatible substances and solvent recycling, and a program to neutralize corrosive chemicals is currently being developed. Chock's department currently recycles 30 to 50 gallons per week of xylene solvents from the Stanford University Hospital pathology lab, and a staff chemist is evaluating the feasibility of recycling another 30 to 50 gallons per week of other solvents. The one thing nearly all academic labs have to deal with sooner or later is contracting someone to pack, ship, and dispose of their hazardous waste. In the years since RCRA and CERCLA were passed, hundreds of firms have entered the lucrative hazardous waste disposal business, providing or brokering waste packing services, transport services, and disposal. "It's not easy to find people who are trained and skilled" in handling academic laboratory waste, says Rockefeller's Gershey. Don Reich, hazardous waste management officer at University of California, Santa Barbara, says that while disreputable disposal contractors are rare, "the problem now is basic competency." He points out that because of the great money-making potential of the hazardous waste disposal industry, many companies with related specialties, such as reclamation of contaminated soil, have moved into the field. Their experience with lab wastes is often severely limited. "You have people who just have the minimum knowledge needed to do the job, and when you run into people like that, you can run into a lot of trouble," says Reich. "The slightest hitch can turn into a nightmare." As an example, Reich cites an incident that happened recently at another school: a job that normally took a company experienced in laboratory wastes six to eight hours took a less experienced firm a week and a half. Reich advises those responsible for contracting brokers or transporters to ask first, "What are your references?" and second, "What experience do you have packaging the specific type of material that I have?" In addition, since the materials that disposal facilities accept change often, a broker or transporter must be familiar with these changes and with the waste stream generated by the institution. A broker should also be aware of any revisions of local, state, or federal regulations. Travis Findly is vice president of Findly Chemical Disposal Inc. of Fontana, Calif., a company that specializes in segregating, packing, and transporting hazardous wastes, as well as brokering disposal sites for these wastes. Lab-packed wastes currently account for 30 percent to 35 percent of the wastes handled by the company. According to Findly, many chemical safety officers and others who deal with hazardous wastes may make the mistake of trusting their contractors too much. "A lot of these academic types are not familiar with the liabilities, and they allow contractors to make their choices for them," he says. Under the strict liabilities of the Superfund law, if a landfill leaks toxic chemicals into the groundwater, or if a chemical spill occurs during transport of toxic wastes, the institution that generated any wastes involved can be held liable, even if that institution had no part in contracting the services of the transport or disposal facility. Findly recommends that institution employees in charge of hazardous waste disposal scrutinize contractors and disposal sites carefully. The institution's representative should maintain awareness--and, if possible, control--of wastes from the moment they are removed from the laboratory until they are deposited in their "ultimate disposal site," a process that may involve several different companies that pack, transport, store, and, possibly, consolidate wastes prior to disposal. Since most universities do not have the resources to check out all the options, Findly suggests that institutions in a particular region join together to deal with hazardous waste services. For example, he says, schools could form a commission to evaluate transport and disposal facilities and develop guidelines for contracting these services. Matthew Finucane, director of the office of environmental health and safety at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, says that his office contracts with several brokers, and also deals directly with disposal sites. Because of RCRA regulations, Penn can store wastes for no longer than 90 days, so "we go with the company who can take care of our needs at the time," says Finucane. "We don't just look someone up in the Yellow Pages," he adds. Contractors are put through a rigorous selection process: facilities, permits, and policies are carefully evaluated; past and current customers are contacted for references; and university lawyers review all contracts. Finucane points out, however, that "just because they're a good company doesn't mean you're giving any [liability] up." The costs of hazardous waste disposal have skyrocketed in just the last few years. This is due in part to the stringent regulations passed over the last decade, requiring such expensive processes as lab-packing. Furthermore, landfilling costs are increasing as space for toxic wastes shrinks, and alternative methods, such as incineration, are also expensive. But although regulations are difficult to deal with, says Findly, they are "making people manage wastes in a more conscientious manner than previously."

Hazardous Waste Disposal: An Offal Problem For Laboratories

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