Diagnosis of Chemical and Special Waste Management in a Higher Education Institution: A Methodology for Data Acquisition and Processing

Abstract

Special waste management represents a major challenge for higher education institutions due to its particularities regarding generation, logistics, treatment, and final disposal. Despite the difficulties encountered, special waste disposal in landfills can no longer be considered as an adequate solution for this particular waste. An integrated waste management system requires a global perspective, which considers from its generation to its treatment/reuse, thus involving appropriate technical and socio-environmental practices. The construction of a waste management system that prioritizes low levels of environmental impact starts with methodologies that, while producing a situational diagnosis, involve and compromise generators along the process. Within this context, the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) obtained a special waste diagnosis through an institutional research project involving members of the university community. For this study, several exploratory techniques were applied, as well as field visits to specific waste generation places. The complexity and large amount of data obtained, coupled with the project’s high demands required a specific level of treatment and standardization. In this sense, this article presents the methodological procedures used to acquire and extract response data from a broad and diverse set of special waste generators in a higher education institution, making them accessible for future use at UFSC.