News
EPA Settlement Promotes Green Chemistry in School
Posted: Jan 4, 2008

A unique agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  
(EPA) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark aims  
to help usher green chemistry into laboratory experiments at the  
institute and other colleges and high schools.

These green chemistry experiments involve the use of new techniques  
and technologies in lab experiments to minimize the need to use  
reagents, usually some type of solvent, to produce chemical reactions.

The agreement arose from an EPA complaint in which the agency cited  
the school for violating federal rules that govern the handling of  
hazardous waste. It requires NJIT to spend at least $125,000 to  
showcase greener lab practices and to measure the amount of solvents  
and energy reductions achieved when school laboratory experiments use  
practices such as microwave technology rather than traditional  
chemistry practices. NJIT also must pay a $31,740 penalty.

The alleged violations EPA observed during its inspections of the  
NJIT’s facilities included failure to:

• determine which wastes it generates are hazardous wastes

• obtain a permit to store hazardous wastes, or take the required  
steps to exempt itself from this permitting requirement
• provide proper training to employees handling hazardous waste
• keep hazardous waste containers closed
• have a contingency plan and minimize the risk of fires, explosions,  
and the release of hazardous wastes and hazardous-waste constituents.

NJIT has since corrected these violations.

Over the past seven years, EPA has inspected more than 58 colleges and  
universities and issued administrative complaints with penalties  
totaling more than $2.7 million against more than 20 colleges and  
universities in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin  
Islands.

The EPA’s Colleges and Universities Initiative is an ongoing program  
with additional investigations anticipated. Educational institutions  
can self-report violations and get relief from a portion of the  
penalties in exchange.

For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/24nucs

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