Introduction
Purdue University is committed to preserving a balance between protecting the health of people and the environment, while accommodating increasingly sophisticated and productive research operations. As specified in Executive Memorandum C36, University faculty, staff and students must comply with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations issued by federal, state, and local agencies. Faculty, staff and students are required to comply with related University policies, procedures, and instructions. The Chemical Management Committee (CMC) requires each principal investigator/generator to certify their waste minimization efforts annually.
Waste minimization is any action that reduces the amount and/or toxicity of chemical wastes that must be shipped off-site for disposal as hazardous waste. This is a national policy specifically mandated by the U.S. Congress in the national hazardous waste law, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). There is clear intent in RCRA, the Clean Air Act, and the Pollution Prevention Act to focus attention on source reduction and recycling as preferred environmental management approaches over the treatment, disposal, or release of harmful chemicals to the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established its hierarchy of waste minimization approaches: reduce, recycle, and treatment.