Hazardous waste on campus will soon be handled by Iowa State‹¨«s recently completed environmental health and safety center. Up to this point, the waste went to an older facility on Scholl Road. The switch will occur this fall.

The building is 35,000 square feet and includes a learning center, an administrative area and a regulated materials area where chemical waste is stored for 90 days, after which it is disposed of by a contractor.

The building is located at 2809 Wanda Daley Drive, off Stange Road.

Ken Kerns, associate director for the environmental health and safety department, said that one of the driving forces behind the building was to get all their staff in the same place.

“Before, half our staff was in nuclear engineering, the other half was in agronomy lab and then our waste handling facility is out on Scholl Road by the Applied Sciences complex,” Kerns said. “This way we could incorporate all our staff in one building.”

He said the environmental health and safety department is responsible for dealing with all the hazardous waste that is produced on campus during research and training. Kerns said students shouldn’t panic over the use of the word “hazardous,” though.

“We really run the safety program for all of campus, so whatever hazard you are going to be working with, we have someone that is responsible for making sure you are going to do that correctly,” Kerns said. “The building does get a lot of coverage because people are reading that it is a hazardous waste building and they are going, ‘Oh my God, what is coming on campus?'”

He said that it is the same stuff that has been here for the past hundred years.

“Basically, laboratories and shops and other places use hazardous materials. When they are done with it and it becomes waste, rather than have them take care of it, we take care of it,” Kerns said.

Daryl Metzger, co-owner of Smith Metzger, the Des Moines-based architectural firm that designed the building, said the design of the building revolved around making sure the chemical waste could be taken care of properly and safely.

“The regulated materials area was the most important part of the project and everything revolved around it,” Metzger said.

He said the most important safety feature is the deflagration panels in the rooms for storing explosives.

David Inyang, director for the environmental health and safety department, said the deflagration panels in the roof of such rooms give the energy a path to escape in an explosion. He said in the case of an explosion the roof will open upward which will prevent the explosion from damaging the side walls.

Aside from storing explosives and other chemicals, the department is responsible for calibrating radiation and making sure radioactive materials that come into Iowa State are not contaminated. They are also responsible for training ISU staff on safety procedures and reviewing remodeling and construction plan to make sure it meets safety requirements.

Inyang said he is pleased with this new facility.

“You have everything that you need to manage all of the hazardous chemicals that are used on campus, in one facility, under one roof,” he said.