When we think of hazardous waste environments, schools are not the first that come to mind. Yet, like any other environments where people work and go about their day-to-day activities, schools produce waste products that can be harmful to human health – and therefore must be disposed of accordingly.
High schools usually have greater pupil numbers and more sophisticated subjects for children to study, which means the greater the chance for hazardous waste to be created. Nevertheless, primary schools should be aware of products that are potential harmful.
Science laboratories and departments often have stocks of harmful substances used to demonstrate the basic functions of chemistry and chemical reaction – careful disposal for this type of waste is essential. Flammable liquids, oxidizers, reactives and toxics are all commonly found in school labs, and should be labelled and identified correctly under COSHH regulations.
In print and art workshops commonly found chemicals include developers, fixers and dyes, as well as petroleum-based inks. In wood and metal workshops for industrial design subjects, degreasing solvents and Polyurethane sealers are used.
Paint and other solvent-based coating materials might also be found on-site at schools, and should be risk assessed for storage, use and disposal. These are extremely hazardous to health and their disposal treated with care. Some examples are paint thinners, adhesives and oil-based paint.
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) can pose another significant hazard: most schools now rely on electrical equipment as an educational aid, and the disposal of this should not be underestimated – there are regulations governing this type of disposal – and it can mean virtually anything with a battery or plug.
Similarly, fluorescent tubes and bulbs are also extremely common in both primary and high schools and are classed as a hazard. Used materials should be stored in a special container until they are collected by a licensed waste collector.
Oils used for cooking by catering staff at primary and secondary schools are also a problematic and hazardous waste, and all waste should be sealed and taken away by the authorised waste management collectors.
Those supervising dangerous or hazardous chemicals in schools are advised to regularly do an inventory of substances and potential hazards, particularly if they have an expiry or use-by date. This will minimise risk, and help those who collect hazardous waste to dispose of it correctly and efficiently.
Try as we might, we can’t ever avoid risk. Even when we’re trying to do something as positive as waste management. As business, you try to avoid risk at all costs. Depending on what kind of business you’re in, and if you’re in a waste management industry job, you probably fill out risk assessments on a weekly, if not daily basis. But what are the hidden risks? The ones that slip under the radar and catch you out at the last moment. Some are easily forgotten or not even thought about, but unfortunately, be it in law, personal injury or environmental damage, it won’t matter how hidden the risks are.
Legal Risks.
Doesn’t sound as nitty gritty as hazardous waste but like everything waste management has some hefty rules and a lot of those could be ones that a business may not think about. Waste management is more than following the three R’s. The definition of ‘waste’ differs throughout legal literature and it’s important that there’s someone or several people making sure that any hidden waste management laws are dealt with and not purring your business at legal risk.
Hazardous Waste
This isn’t just the toxic, green, acid like substance we see in tv and film. But chemical and biological waste such as car batteries, bleach, varnishes, dead animal carcasses, straw, hay needle, human waste, garden products and much, much more. All of these things can cause harm to someone in contact with them. While some of these wastes may seem obviously hazardous (human waste, carcasses, bleach ect) things like garden products, straw, hay and batteries may slip under the radar, risking harm to others. Obviously the biggest risk with hazardous waste is the harm to employee’s interacting with it. This can be through several ways…
Risk of Injection.
As stated before, things like needles count as hazardous waste. Therefore if someone’s skin is penetrated with a needle or sharp object, then they are exposed to any kind of contamination and are at risk. It can often be something overlooked as especially if the waste is a mass and hasn’t been organised into categories or managed effectively.
Skin Contact
This doesn’t just mean hands or through cuts and grazes. A thing that is often caught out is the contact with eyes that also counts as a skin contact. Anything that is getting involved with eye membrane and mucus is going to cause damage.
Inhalation Risks
Breathing around waste is a risk. And a hidden one at that. Asbestos, gas and all other inhalable toxins lurk in waste. Hidden from sight until someone takes that deep breath before starting work on waste management. Things like masks should be provided by an employer but even regular health checks for employees could be a good thing to offer, minimising this hidden risk.
Noise Risks
Sounds odd, but it is a genuine risk for something working in waste management. From machinery to the deafening noise of glass collection and methods of recycling. Over time this can become quite a dangerous thing for work.
Personal Hygiene- Or lack of.
Whatever your position in waste management, you know that it’s an environment to stay clean and hygienic in. Poor hygiene practises amongst staff, poor hygiene education and/or lack of proper washing facilities can make those waste management risks even riskier and harder to spot.
Waste is the unseen problem, once we dispose of it we think about it no more. While your waste costs might not be so forgettable when its on your company’s balance sheet, for most of us – your employees included, don’t think about it once it goes in the rubbish bin or pile. Readjusting your waste disposal habits and placing a greater emphasis on recycling and re-use could save your company serious cash in the long run.
Here are 5 facts to get you thinking:
1. Each year in he UK, we throw out nearly 50 million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) – if all the components were laid end-to-end, that would reach to the moon three times. More shocking still, is that 25% of it is functioning equipment – and if it were to be re-used would save a total of £200m!
2. Most people believe that the majority of waste comes from households and domestic use – this is false; household waste only accounts for 9% of the country’s total waste; only around 25% of it comes from households and commercial business use combined. The rest of it, comes from construction and demolition; sewage sludge and farming; spoils from mining, and the drudging of rivers. Every hour the nation creates enough waste to fill the Albert Hall.
3. Food waste from the catering and leisure industries amounts to £724 million in spoiled food. Think how many people that could feed?
4. 50% of the renewable energy that we produce each year comes from gases that are emitted from landfill sites, hardly surprising as each person throws away seven times their own body weight in rubbish.
5. Glass and metal can be recycled an infinite number of times: six billion glass bottles and jar are thrown away each year – it would take three and a half thousand years to sing ‘six billion green bottles’, which is nothing compared to how long glass sticks around for: as it doesn’t decompose or break down, it will last forever. Recycling one glass bottle would save enough energy to power a laptop for 25 minutes.
Waste management might not be something we think of on a daily basis. Especially when we’re at work. A business will generate more waste than an average household. Ten times over. Be it paper waste, water waste, technology waste or a lack of recycling bins- waste is happening, and it isn’t good.
This is something that needs to change. As a business, you can actually help with waste management more than you think and there are financial and reputation based benefits in doing so. Many businesses have embraced a zero waste attitude and are helping the environment, and themselves in the process.
Some waste management facts can be shocking to hear, but amongst them are equally shocking positives that come out of it. If you are a business that needs to update their recycling ethos, then these facts may help.
It’s unlikely a business doesn’t use a computer and maybe a few of them. In fact, it’s used so much that one day it will burn out and break down. Probably heading straight for a skip on its way to the landfill. But computers can be recycled, unfortunately we ignore this and dump around 50 million tons of electrical equipment every year. Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
How many times have you had to file away paperwork? Shred it? Print it? Sign it? Chuck it? Enough times to cut down 4 million trees a year. Tonnes and tonnes of paper just heading to a landfill, when really recycled paper can be turned into something new in just seven days. Your weekly copy of metro you pick while travelling to work could be the same you picked up last week. The only new thing is the scandals.
Companies can benefit from attempting a zero waste to landfill ethic. The avoidance of diverting company waste to a landfill and trying for a complete reuse of waste could save a company £500 a month in landfill tax. Maybe more. The office Christmas party just got a little bit fancier, just turn off the printer at the wall.
A companies landfill efforts are vetted by third party verification parties. There are three categories a business can be fitted into. Zero Waste to Landfill:Products, facilities and/or organizations that have achieved a landfill waste diversion rate of 100 percent. Virtually Zero Waste to Landfill: Those that have achieved a landfill diversion rate of 98 percent or greater. Landfill Waste Diversion: For those that have achieved landfill waste diversion rates of 80 percent or greater. A lot of customers like the idea of using a company whose mind is also on the environment. Waste not want not.
Water waste is something we forget needs management. In a business setting you have multiple people using the bathroom. People going in and out every day flushing toilets and leaving taps on. A leaky tap could waste around 5000 litres of water, what happens if someone leaves the tap fully on? Water rates don’t pay themselves and the planet doesn’t save itself.
Lighting in offices is usually made up from those florescent tubes with one that always flickers in the corner of the room ominously. These are rarely disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. That’s leaves us with 80 million tubes and 4 tonnes of mercury scattered about in a landfill.
By building healthy waste management habits, one small business can help the world. This can be hard work, but there are companies out there that specifically help business become more sustainable. A good investment for your business and the world your business lives in.
The history of waste management is a story of urban modernization as people moved to cities, and the industrial revolution that attracted them, as businesses and amenities made waste removal infrastructure necessary for environmental and sanitation reasons.
It wasn’t until sanitation became so bad in UK urban areas, that a cholera outbreak led to a greater understanding of the need for waste management. The first outbreak in London 1832, was initially thought have been spread by a bad smell, but it wasn’t until the mid-19th century when Dr. John Snow hypothesized that the disease was water-borne. This not only led to a better understanding of the disease but also brought about London’s subterranean sewage system.
The modern history of waste management can be traced back to the 1875 Public Health Act, which brought into law modern refuse collection – and demanded that household waste be put into transportable form.
Since then, waste has been tackled in many ways. In the 1920’s, the first incinerator was produced and first used in Nottingham. While successful in reducing waste, the incinerator’s by-product was clouds of pollution over the city, and this method ultimately faced strong opposition.
Landfill sites are still used to this day, and remain the most effective means of waste removal and management for a growing population with increasing consumption habits – but focus is now turning to reducing these waste mountains.
However, waste management techniques have continued to evolve as the environment, and the issue of pollution gaining in increasing importance, and also the needs of business to safely dispose of waste.
Recycling has become essential to reduce costs and to re-use expensive or finite resources, as issues of our effect on the planet becoming a pressing issue. Plastics account for 10% by weight and 26% by volume of all recycling in the UK; glass can be recycled indefinitely and is 100% recyclable. Metals, on the other hand, are much more difficult to recycle and can lead to further pollution and pollutants reaching water supplies and soil. Paper recycling is essential to minimize deforestation – and the bulk of this comes through commercial use – but the switch to a paperless society and working methods, mean that businesses are reducing the need for this type of recycling.
The ideal in waste management is the concept of ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ in which all waste can be broken down into its basic constituents and recycled effectively.
Aside from the tangible economic benefits to businesses and firms, it is necessary for a world in which ‘carbon neutral’ objectives are becoming an imperative and a reality. The commitment for business to implement a zero waste to landfill strategy requires planning and commitment, but with these measures in place it could lead to organizations finding that they can reduce their outlay through the supply chain.
