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Cleanlink News 10/13/2009

Districts Test Approach for Safer Schools & Cleaner Environment

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Four school districts in Cuyahoga County, Ohio – Beachwood, Berea, North Royalton, and Orange – are pursuing a new initiative to improve chemical and waste management in the schools. Backed by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) and Ohio Schools Council (OSC) are working with the non-profit organization, Chemical Strategies Partnership (CSP), to support the school districts in a pilot program.

Nationwide, public school districts are asked to meet increasing educational demands with diminishing financial resources. At the same time, high-profile hazardous material incidents in schools have made improved chemical management a priority for leaders of school districts, state agencies, and the EPA. While cleaning out years of accumulated laboratory chemicals is an urgent need, school districts need long-term management systems to ensure that the problem does not recur in the future.   

The Cuyahoga County school districts will test an innovative, business model that has become a best practice among large research and industrial companies. The approach is “Chemical Management Services”, where a service provider will not only help supply chemicals to the schools, but also assist in properly managing the chemicals and waste. The unique model focuses on the schools receiving chemical services rather than just chemical products. Thus, the school will receive assistance in purchasing, inventory management, data tracking and monitoring, waste collection, and safety/storage/handling training. The schools expect to see multiple benefits including chemical use reduction (through improved purchasing practices, better information, and better overall management), improved safety (through increased staff training, tighter control on chemicals purchased, and substitution of safer products), and reduced waste. “We commend these schools for taking a leadership position in protecting the health of our students, teachers, and our community. It is our hope that this project will serve as an example for other K-12 school districts in Cuyahoga County, and extend even beyond that, to our municipalities,” says Matt Johnson, CCBH.

There is a precedent for this pilot at the Lansing School District in Lansing, Michigan. Based on the success demonstrated at Lansing, the EPA and CSP anticipate that the model will be successful with Cuyahoga County schools, and are actively working to provide training and promote the model in schools across the nation. Matt Hale, Director of the US EPA's Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery states that “reducing chemical use and improving chemical management creates safer and healthier schools. The innovative approach to be used here has great potential for improving the school environment for all our nation's children.”

Source: CHEMICAL STRATEGIES PARTNERSHIP