Campus center specializes in hazardous waste removal

One hundred and twenty six tons of hazardous waste materials were generated on the campus of Cal State Long Beach in 1994, and only one office handle's its disposal Ñ the Environmental Health and Safety Office.

Since campus clean up is an on-going process for CSULB's office, which is responsible for the removal of asbestos, PCB's (Polychlorobiphenyts) and other hazardous waste at CSULB according to federal, state, and local regulations.

The total waste material collected had increased compared to the last four years. Forty-three tons of asbestos and 31 tons of PCBs were removed from the campus in 1994.

The office contributes the increase in the amount of asbestos removed to the on-going renovation projects on campus.

"When there is a renovation process we end up removing a lot of asbestos," Maryann Rozanski, director of Environmental Health and Safety, said.

"Very little asbestos is removed from the campus outside of renovation," Rozanski said.

The 31 tons of PCBs removed from the campus come from oils used to cool electrical components in transformers which are also removed during construction.

"One transformer could be seven tons," Rozanski said. Federal and state regulations govern the storage and disposal of hazardous waste materials on all campuses in California.

Stanford University was charged with 499 allegations of violating state hazardous waste laws last year, according to a report issued by the Chancellor's Office of Environmental Health and Safety.

Stanford was fined nearly $1 million, even though only 39 of the allegations were spills released into the environment, the report stated.

The Associated Students Recycling Center also contributes to the removal of waste from CSULB.

The center removed 3.7 million tons of solid waste materials in 1994, according to their reports.

But, Chad Franklin, manager of the center says he would like to do more.

"I personally would like to see more barrels. We have some, I would like to get more out there, it's one step at a time," Franklin said.