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PENN STATE WINS GOVERNOR'S AWARD FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
EXCELLENCE
Penn State's Department of Environmental Health and
Safety (EHS) has been recognized by Governor Mark Schweiker for outstanding
commitment to pollution prevention and environmental protection. Maurine
Claver, Director of EHS, and Kate Lumley-Sapanski, EHS Manager accepted the
award on behalf of the University at a special ceremony in Harrisburg on
September 25. The event was sponsored by the Department of Environmental
Protection to honor those organizations who have demonstrated the best
environmental leadership in Pennsylvania.
Penn State has taken a series of innovative approaches
to pollution prevention on campus. Several
examples of the multi-faceted program run by EHS include:
Ø EHS helps departments verify and implement appropriate practices for chemical usage. All janitorial, maintenance, and laboratory areas which use chemicals are reviewed and enhanced on a periodic basis.
Ø In addition, EHS organized a contest for the Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology Departments for the best ideas to minimize chemical waste. A cash prize was offered as an incentive to promote employee awareness about hazardous waste issues.
Ø
EHS has partnered with departments around the University to
remove mercury thermometers in order to reduce the potential of mercury
spills. Even though mercury is
widely used in laboratories, it is a chemical which poses hazardous threats
to the environment. To date
more than 5,900 thermometers have been collected, which contained a total of
356 pounds of mercury. As a
result of this program, the University is able to rely on environmentally
safe equivalents that avoid the risk of mercury release. (The
collection continues and the latest numbers can be found at: http://www.ehs.psu.edu/
According to Maurine Claver, Director of EHS,
"Penn State's Office of Environmental Health and Safety has implemented
a comprehensive set of pollution prevention initiatives. These
have been successful because of the cooperation and concern for the
environment by all members of the Penn State community." A
short videotape of these initiatives was produced for the ceremony and
features EHS staff members, Kevin Myers, Curt Speaker, and Mike Burke. The video will soon be available to the public at the DEP
website: http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/pollprev/p2_Features/Awards.htm
"We're very proud of the exceptional
accomplishments of this year's winners," said Governor Schweiker. "They've shown through their example that it is not only
possible, but beneficial to our Commonwealth to conserve natural resources
and to protect the environment."