St. Louis, Oct. 11, 2006 – Recognizing the leadership that Washington University in St. Louis has shown in management of hazardous waste and its many environmental initiatives, the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during a visit to Washington University, announced plans to establish a new, national compliance assistance center for colleges and universities, and Washington University will be very active in the center.
EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced that a five-year grant of up to $350,000 will be made to a consortium comprising four national academic organizations: National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence (C2E2), Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA), and the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA). Washington University is a member of NACUBO, CSHEMA, and APPA and likely will become a member of C2E2.
EPA has successfully started compliance centers in the industrial sector to help industries understand their compliance requirements and to provide the companies in those sectors with tools to improve their environmental performance — beyond simple compliance requirements.
“I am thankful to Bruce Backus and his colleagues for the leadership and effort that have been brought to bear on these crucial issues related to the environment and the management of hazardous waste,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “We believe that Washington University is well positioned to be a leader in several key environmental areas in the coming years, and we appreciate this recognition by the EPA.”
EPA recently published a proposed new hazardous waste rule that focuses on academic laboratories. The proposed rule recognizes that college and university teaching and research laboratories are different from large scale chemical manufacturing facilities, and that the existing hazardous waste rules, written 20 years ago for large-scale chemical manufacturing facilities, do not fit well in a university laboratory.
The existing rules create administrative burdens, such as very specific labeling requirements for every test tube and bottle of unwanted chemical materials, which does not translate into better protections for the environment.
The proposed new regulation for colleges and universities creates a performance-based rule, which will be easier to apply and will make it easier for universities to direct resources toward their environmental stewardship initiatives.
For the past six years, Washington University has participated or led the way in partnering with EPA to explore, trial and adopt best management practices in the management of hazardous waste through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Best Management Practices Workgroup and the NIH Regulatory Burden workgroup, and through the efforts of Bruce Backus, Washington University assistant vice chancellor of environmental health and safety, who served as Chair of the EPA Colleges and Universities Sector Coordinating Committee.
According to Backus, Washington University’s environmental thrust currently focuses on five areas: energy research, aerosols and air quality, sustainable river systems, sustainable ecosystems and environmental health studies (http://eer.wustl.edu/) .
One of the goals of the initiative is to eventually make the Washington University campuses living laboratories for environmental research and education.
The university partners with regional organizations and businesses in this effort, such as the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis Science Museum, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Top graduate students from around the world are being recruited into the interdisciplinary Environmental and Energy Research program.
Soon the university will add a new assistant vice chancellor for energy and the environment position, which will focus on sustainability and collaborative efforts between university operations and the university’s seven schools. Washington University made a major commitment to mass transportation this year through the issuance of free public transportation passes (buses and trains) to all students, faculty and staff.
The Washington University facilities departments have implemented several energy conservation initiatives. It received the 2003 Missouri Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence and Pollution Prevention, and the 2000 Environmental Excellence Award from the Choose Environmental Excellence Gateway Region for ridesharing and recycling programs.
Backus stepped down from the Chair position, after serving in that role for three years, but still serves on the Coordinating Committee. The committee focuses on all environmental aspects — air, water, waste, hazardous materials, performance measures, management systems, sustainable operations, energy conservation, and green buildings, among other issues.
The committee, through the EPA Sectors Program, which is part of the EPA Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, works will all the offices within EPA to break down barriers to environmental improvement. For the past three years, that effort has focused on the hazardous waste regulations, which have long been an issue for the colleges and universities sector.