The Office of Environmental Health and Safety, in cooperation with campus departments, will investigate, evaluate, and recommend waste minimization options. These practices involve the procedural or organizational aspects of the university's operations, research or teaching activities and in some areas changes in operating practices, in order to reduce the amount of waste generated. These practices should be oriented towards process and equipment modifications to reduce waste in the university setting. These practices can range from changes that can be implemented in a matter of days at low cost, to the replacement of process equipment involving large capital expenditures. Use and reuse practices involve the return of a waste material either to the originating process or to another process as a substitute for an input material.
Reclamation practices tenders a waste to another company.
A material exchange not only reduces wastes, it also saves money, both important considerations during times of fiscal crises. When planning or actively pursuing an investigation or course of study investigators must consider the hazardous nature of all materials involved. Once a table of materials has been defined, each investigator is responsible for determining whether material substitution will reduce the generation of hazardous waste. Known, non-hazardous materials or wastes must not be declared hazardous for the purposes of disposal. Conversely, each department must take responsibility for the analysis of unknown materials which it has generated in the past and which remain in the custody of the generator for inordinate periods of time.