The problem of hazardous waste disposal is statewide and requires resources easily available at the state level. Without a statewide effort, the few schools that have resources remove hazardous chemicals, while most schools do nothing. Not that custodial and maintenance materials are excluded. The program is voluntary and all final decisions are made locally. We learned that to get chemistry teachers, who are natural hoarders, to get rid of enough of their chemicals, a strung educational component was necessary.
Schools then send an inventory of chemicals to be removed by our contractor.
The Safety Seminar and removal are free. We did a small pilot study of chemical removal without a safety seminar. In our experience, schools at which the chemistry teachers attend a safety seminar dispose of twice as much as schools in which only no one attends. Deciding What to Keep A national expert in toxicology gave a seminar last year and concluded the toxic level of most chemicals is unknown. It is difficult to make absolute statements about which chemicals may be used in teaching and which are too hazardous.