HELP MEETING

September 20, 2000

Bio-Rad Laboratories

Redmond, Washington

MEETING MINUTES

• The meeting started at 9:10 AM with Introductions.
• Jo Walentiny, Regional EH&S Manager for Bio-Rad Laboratories presented an overview of the EH&S Systems at Bio-Rad Laboratories in Washington. The system is built from the grass roots and has organization-wide dedication.
• Jim Denovan of EIC Environmental Health & Safety presented a very brief summary flammable solids and the Uniform Fire Code. In addition, the attendees discussed some of the inconsistencies in the fire codes and local jurisdiction's interpretations and rules.
• Denise Bender of Immunex talked about some of their pollution prevention achievements over the past eight years. Major progress was made in distillation of ethanol/xylene waste and silver recovery. Switching to small bore HPLC has reduced Acetonitrile waste production. They also switched from methanol to less toxic ethanol for some of their staining processes. The group discussed the importance of factoring in increased production and research activities into pollution prevention reporting and some of the difficulties in communicating changes. Also, R&D activities can vary dramatically from year to year. Denise also talked about the CerOx cerium oxidation process for treating organic chemicals, including Acetonitrile.
• The group indicated interest in hearing from regulators about pollution prevention trends in a future HELP meeting. Of special interest is trends in the industry and specific ideas for dealing with laboratory waste.
• Jim Denovan presented the results of a member's survey of reactions to customer service complaints in relation to Stericyle, the current owner of BFI and the only medical waste disposal contractor in the area. Thirteen responses have been received so far with common complaints ranging from failure to pick up wastes to not delivering enough containers or lids to failure to return calls. Only one formal complaint has been logged.
• Bill Rowe from the University of Washington brought a list of state-audited waste disposal firms. The group also discussed recycling options for batteries. The International Metals Reclamation Company, Inc. (INMETCO) recycles batteries.
• The next meeting will be November 15 at 9:00 AM at CTI in Seattle.