It is imperative that Bates commit to an annual reduction in hazardous waste generation. A reduction in the hazardous waste stream would not only make Bates more environmentally friendly, but also it would save on procurement costs and service costs of removal. In order for this to happen, the College needs to review its HWM each year, in conjunction with a consultant, to identify areas for reduction.

A. Physical Plant: A large source of waste in the Physical Plant is paint. In 1996, Bates generated 1,986 lbs. of paint waste. This number also takes into account all of the old paint taken from properties that Bates had recently acquired, such as Shortridge. This phenomenon of inheriting hazardous wastes poses the greatest difficulty in reducing our hazardous waste stream.

B. Chemistry and Biology Laboratories: Students, teaching assistants and professors should begin to look at new methods and procedures to reduce the amount of laboratory hazardous waste. Bowdoin and Colby have adopted microscale chemistry, as have hundreds of other institutions. This is the most modern form of biological and chemical laboratory testing and analysis. Many workshops and materials are presently available for teaching microscale. Microscale chemistry is now used in most commercial and industrial laboratories for many reasons. The science departments at Bates should do a systematic analysis of microscale options in terms of their effectiveness as academic pedagogy. It is becoming more commonplace in the "real" world of chemistry, it does not affect the outcome of chemistry instruction and it significantly reduces the hazardous waste stream. Some of the other benefits of microscale include:

• Reduced chemical costs
• Improved air quality
• Reduced exposure to toxic materials
• Curtailed waste generation
• Use of a wider variety of chemicals
• Shortened experiment times
• Limited chances of fire or explosion

C. Art Department: Options exist for art departments to use citrus-based solvents, in lieu of hazardous petroleum-based solvents. The art department should systematically review this possibility during the 1998-99 academic year.

Tactical Recommendations 1. The following recommendations may further strengthen the organization and availability of hazardous waste records.

a. The Physical Plant engineer, should compile all of Bates' yearly records since 1990 (regardless of whether it was requested by the State) into a comprehensive Bates Hazardous Waste Manifest. This annual manifest will aid greatly in measuring and comparing the quantity and types of hazardous waste that Bates generates.

b. Bates' Annual Hazardous Waste Manifest should be analyzed and reviewed every year at a meeting consisting of the director of safety, plant engineer and the biology and chemistry stock managers. It should be reviewed for accuracy, possible methods of reduction and trends (in terms of the preceding manifests of the last five years).

c. The manifest should be made available to all members of the community whose operations contribute to the hazardous waste stream. It should be presented in a comparative format in relation to past data.

2. The following recommendations regarding the status of our hazardous waste service at Bates should be addressed.

a. The director of safety, plant engineer and biology and chemistry stock managers should conduct a competitive bidding process to find the company or companies best suited to dispose of all the hazardous waste generated at Bates. The criteria for the hazardous waste service qualities should consist of:

3. Factor into the purchase price of a house or building the removal costs of all hazardous waste remaining in the facility.

4. As a matter of policy, use latex instead of the more toxic and combustible oil-based paints, and store the waste separately.

5. Begin testing the use of recycled paint in low-traffic spaces.

6. Seek alternatives to traditional petroleum-based solvents (e.g. citrus or aqueous-based).

7. The Hazardous Waste subcommittee will work, in conjunction with Physical Plant and the science departments, with the new hazardous waste service vendor to find sources where our hazardous waste generation could be reduced through a new or different method.

8. Establish a surplus chemical exchange program to collect hazardous materials in labs that are no longer needed and make them available to other users so they are not discarded.

9. In academic year 1998-99, establish a microscale task force to study the feasibility of switching to microscale chemistry. The task force should include faculty, students, stock room managers and administrators. The task force will issue a report prior to the end of Short Term in 1999. If action is warranted, implementation will begin in the fall of 1999.

10. Inventory the hazardous substances used, including paint, chemicals and solvents.

11. Use citrus-based instead of petroleum-based solvents for cleaning brushes and pallets in the art department.

12. The following recommendations address the vital issue of improved training.
a. Training should be provided for faculty so that they have knowledge of the current hazardous waste disposal methods within their buildings or departments. (The training could be provided in-house or contracted through our service vendor.) This knowledge should then systematically be conveyed by the professors to their students. It is important that no classroom experiment concludes by dumping a hazardous waste down the drain.

b. Students will be required to successfully demonstrate competence in hazardous-waste management before being allowed in the lab. The safety director and science stock room managers will work with appropriate faculty to develop this competency test.

c. All personnel who handle hazardous substances will receive yearly in-house training on the best management practices for handling waste.