Illinois EPA removes chemicals used in classrooms

SPRINGFIELD  - Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) Director Doug Scott announced another successful month for the Agency's Hazardous Education Waste program, which removes potentially hazardous educational wastes from the state's school laboratories and classrooms.  In January, 34 schools in 21 counties had the equivalent of 106 fifty-five gallon drums of education waste removed from their facilities.

 

"The goal of the Hazardous Education Waste program is really two-fold.  It rids classrooms of leftover laboratory products, protects the environment from chemicals, and it keeps students and staff safe, while educating the next generation on the value of caring for the environment," said Director Scott.

 

Recognizing that a school's physical environment may have a significant impact on children's health and safety, hazardous education waste reduction and education are important components of the Illinois EPA's overall effort to make our environment and learning environment safer.  Since 1996, Illinois EPA has conducted 695 Hazardous Education Waste collections serving more than 400 communities, disposing of more than 1,885 fifty-five gallon drum equivalents of toxic materials.  An additional 133 schools are currently being scheduled for pickups in the near future.

 

The Illinois EPA, Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Waste Management Research Center have been working together to improve environmental conditions at Illinois schools to decrease, if not eliminate, the use of hazardous materials in the classroom.  Since November 2002, over 1,000 teachers have attended nearly 40 safe chemicals in education workshops held throughout the state educating them on how to identify and find alternatives to hazardous materials.

 

 

 

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The following is a list of schools that participated in the education waste clean up: 

 

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