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Tennessee School Labs Get a Green Makeover

Photo: Degrading chemical containers

Example of outdated and degrading chemical containers.

Tennessee's School Lab Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3) Exit EPA is giving K-12 school laboratories a welcome makeover. The program is removing outdated, unlabeled, and degraded containers of hazardous chemicals from schools to improve safety for teachers, students and staff, and to protect the environment. The pilot program was first conducted in 2003, which removed more than 2,100 pounds of chemicals from four schools. Since then, SC3 has removed nearly 23,000 pounds of lab waste from 68 schools in Tennessee.

The SC3 chemical cleanouts have run across a number of chemicals, including mercury, formaldehyde, and 50+ year-old chemicals. These potentially hazardous chemicals are generally brought into schools for chemistry class experiments and require special handling for proper storage and disposal. Often schools are not appropriately equipped with the budget or technology to make their laboratories completely safe and secure. Accidents such as spills and fires resulting from broken, leaking, and degrading chemical containers can lead to expensive cleanups and school closures. One SC3 cleanout discovered open and constantly evaporating containers of mercury, which, in an unventilated room, pose long-term health risks.

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Photo: Workers loading chemicals into truck

SC3 workers remove hazardous chemicals from school property.

To minimize student exposure, Occupational Health and Safety Administration-trained workers pack and remove the chemicals from school premises when the students are not present. The chemical waste is then treated and disposed of as hazardous waste. In cooperation with the Tennessee Department of Education, SC3 provides follow-up training to teachers about laboratory safety basics such as proper chemical ordering, management, and storage. In addition, the training explores new techniques like green chemistry (using less hazardous chemicals to teach the same principles) and microchemistry (using smaller amounts of chemicals to produce less waste). According to Ken Nafe, manager for the program, "SC3 has helped lower the health risks for both students and teachers across Tennessee. The follow-up training will prevent similar situations from occurring 10 to 20 years into the future." Nafe also points out that the program will expand in the future to address computer, paint, pesticide, fluorescent lighting, and art supply waste.

Tennessee's SC3 program is part of the Tennessee Pollution Prevention Partnership (TP3) Green Schools Program Exit EPA, originally established by the Tennessee (TN) Department of Environment & Conservation. TP3 Green Schools extends beyond hazardous chemical removal by challenging students to create new ways to address pollution and waste in their schools and communities through pollution prevention projects. The TN Science Teachers Association, TN Academy of Science, Union University, and the companies Clean Harbors and MSE-Teris also help support the SC3 program. Tennessee's program is also supported by our own Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign, which has similar goals to remove potentially harmful chemicals from K-12 schools, encourage prevention of future chemical management problems through policies and practices such as chemical management training for instructors, and raise national awareness of hazardous chemicals in schools.

The Tennessee and Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaigns, as well as the TP3 Green Schools program, exemplify the types of activities encouraged by our own Resource Conservation Challenge within the national priority area of Priority and Toxic Chemical Reduction.

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