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New facility enhances responsible waste management at UFS

12 August 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

Chemical waste_web copy — Tinus Viljoen (second from the left) is responsible for waste management at the university. Here he is pictured at the new chemical waste facility on the western side of the Bloemfontein Campus. With him, on his left, is Nico Janse van Rensburg, Senior Director, University Estates; Prof Danie Vermeulen, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences; and on the far right is Benedict Mochesela, officer at University Estates.

A new chemical waste facility on the western side of the Bloemfontein Campus started functioning in July 2021 and will enhance the safe storage of hazardous materials on campus.

Since the safety of its staff and students are a key priority for the university, as stipulated in its strategic plan, a facility such as this plays an essential role in reducing any health risks and even the possibility of an explosion.

Tinus Viljoen, a Lecturer in the Department of Genetics, concurs that this facility makes the university a safer place because there are less toxic and flammable waste lying around in the labs.

Besides his role as lecturer, he is responsible for waste management, including the collection of hazardous waste internally, classifying it, and arranging for it to be collected by accredited waste companies.

A safer space

Waste previously stored in the Genetics Building is now kept at the new facility. Viljoen is of the opinion that this new space is safer because fewer students and staff have access to the western campus. “The chemical waste tends to smell, and on this part of the campus it is out of the way,” he says.

He also says that it helps to have a central place to store the waste, because of logistical reasons. “It makes the overall waste management easier.”

It is mainly inorganic and organic liquid/solid waste, contaminated glass, contaminated solids (e.g., filter paper and gloves), acid waste, and expired chemicals that are stored at the facility.

This facility makes the university a safer place because there are less toxic and flammable waste lying around in the labs. – Tinus Viljoen

Adhering to legislation

He explains that he is notified by departments in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences when they have waste to collect and that he then collects it on Fridays.

Viljoen continues: “The chemical waste is then classified according to the various waste streams and stored in large 210 l drums. When the drums are full, I contact an accredited hazardous waste company to remove, transport, and dispose of the various waste according to strict legislation, constituting the National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998), the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act 59 of 2008), the Hazardous Substances Act (Act 5 of 1973), and the National Road Traffic Act, 93 of 1996 (NRTA).”

“The majority of the waste is transported to a hazardous landfill in Gauteng and the rest are incinerated,” he concludes.

News Archive

Incidents on the Bloemfontein Campus

2016-08-25

Statement by the Institutional Forum of the University of the Free State (UFS) - Released by Dr Willy Nel (Chairperson) on behalf of the Institutional Forum of the UFS

Two incidents happened on campus the past week, which were brought to the attention of the university management:

1. The university management received a complaint on 16 August 2016 that a student had sprayed liquid in the face of a security guard at one of the university gates. The reason appears to be that three students were sent back to their residence to collect their student cards in order to exit the campus – as required – and this might have caused the reaction. In video footage, it is clear that a student on the passenger side was responsible for the spraying incident. Statements have been taken from the three students in the car as well as from the affected security guard. The student claims that the liquid was water from his gym bottle. Regardless, charge sheets were prepared and delivered, and the disciplinary hearing has been scheduled on an urgent basis for 1 September 2016.

2. An incident happened on the Bloemfontein Campus on 23 August 2016, with a test being distributed in a class where the answer to one of the questions was included in the Afrikaans version, while it was excluded in the English version. The matter was investigated and it was decided that the written test will be set aside and a new test, covering the same scope, will be compiled for all students; the new test will be subject to external moderation; and external moderation of tests in the particular department will take place until the end of the year. The lecturer concerned claims that this was a genuine mistake and not intentional, in that guidelines for that one question were removed after a decision to add further examination questions, which made the guidelines obsolete; in the process of revising the papers, the lecturer made a mistake and did not remove the guidelines for both the English and Afrikaans versions. Nonetheless, the university management has decided on a disciplinary process involving the lecturer concerned, given the seriousness of the matter.

Released by: Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Tel: +27 51 401 3422/2707 or +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

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