Doing our dirty work

Chemical safety staff keep campus clean using upgraded safety facilities

With the seasons on the brink of change, a bit of spring cleaning by employees around campus will yield the usual discoveries, such as long-lost memorabilia and forgettable pieces of junk.

Or pipe bombs, dangerous gases and other hazardous materials.

For the staff at the Environmental Protection and Safety Building, such items are the standard fare of a typical day spent keeping UW–Madison clean and safe. Tucked behind the more-recognized Kohl Center, safety building workers specialize in campus “dirty work,” such as collection and management of hazardous waste.

On a recent afternoon, staff members calmly awaited the arrival of the Dane County Bomb Squad to conduct X-rays of two small steel cases with prominently displayed warnings of hazardous contents. Propped open, each case revealed a closed-off metal pipe, tightly secured and surrounded by foam padding. The only clear clue to the pipes’ contents was a simple chemical formula written on the outside of the steel cases, indicating a silicon compound.

With a little bit of investigation, staff learned that the pipes had belonged to an Austrian chemistry professor who spent time researching at the university 20 years ago. They had been discovered while cleaning a stockroom, and the packaging alerted their finders to the volatile and spontaneously flammable contents.

Ron Bresell, associate director of chemical and radiation protection, speculates the chemical in the pipes may have been bought for specific research purposes but later abandoned, a common occurrence. “People spend big money on materials, and are often reluctant to get rid of them,” says Bresell. “Departments might use a tenth of the supplies they bought, and we take care of the rest.”

The staff members play an often overlooked but critical part in maintaining environmental safety. Dave Drummond, Safety Department director, says two-thirds of the center’s work involves serving the research community, ensuring the research is conducted safely and in accordance with important waste concerns.

“Research is very complicated, because there’s a lot going on and it’s highly varied,” Drummond says. “We take care of the specialized issues of waste and handling, and we keep you on the right side of regulatory issues.”

While the building has the appearance of an ordinary warehouse, a trip inside reveals its varied contents and strategic setup. Flammable and toxic chemicals, as well as low-level radioactive waste, are among material commonly handled in the newly remodeled building. It’s equipped with features like explosion-safe storage rooms, and the entire facility is surrounded by a 12-inch dike to prevent possible spills from entering the sewer system. A flammable liquid storage room is built on its own six inch dike to keep spills from leaking into the rest of the facility.

Standard operations involve collection of “waste streams” from around campus. A computer records all chemical decisions as a quick reference and guide to all handling and storage. A significant amount of the waste received is acids and bases, which are kept in a large collection tub and prepared for disposal with neutralizing materials.

Other wastes include hazardous chemicals received from labs, which accumulate in large carboy containers and are then collected by Onyx, a contracted environmental service, for disposal in accordance with regulations that restrict the center from storing hazardous materials beyond 90 days. In the “Rad Room,” low-level radioactive material is stored for a minimum of 10 times the half-life and tested to make sure there is no residual radioactivity before disposal. Any remaining material is collected by Onyx.

Specialized facilities offer an array of services to campus. Workers handle spill cleanups, asbestos removal, fire safety training and a battery recycling program. When a department undergoes a big cleaning, safety staff will often conduct a “clean sweep,” removing unwanted materials and testing waste on site.

To help alleviate the stockpiling of chemicals in campus labs, the center offers a chemical recycling program that allows labs to deposit unwanted and unopened chemicals for redistribution. The chemicals are entered into an Internet listing, allowing other departments to handily “pick and choose like a Kmart shopping trip,” says supervisor Dennis Silbaugh.

In his 25 years of waste management, Silbaugh has watched regulations become more specialized. “There was hardly any regulation when I first started, so I’ve seen everything,” Silbaugh says. “We get practically everything, and we are always trying to improve.”

Nevertheless, there are surprises. Workers once discovered a small bomb in the office of a professor who had recently died. Silbaugh speculates that it was a World War II souvenir.

“We see strange cases, like things subject to strict temperature control, or stuff that can’t be shipped unless it’s 10 percent water, for example,” Silbaugh says. “You find out new ways of doing things after years of doing this.”

Establishing waste management methods and maintaining a highly efficient site have positioned UW–Madison as one of the top waste management centers in the country. The current facility is the product of an in-depth examination of several other sites’ strengths and weaknesses, and has become a model for other sites in playing a crucial role in safety and cleanliness, says Drummond.

“Everyone generates hazardous waste at some point, whether it be chemistry labs or the library,” Drummond says.