Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 67.32
Liaison Jennifer Daniels
Submission Date Jan. 31, 2024

STARS v2.2

California State University, Stanislaus
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Jennifer Daniels
Sustainability Specialist
CPFM
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have strategies in place to safely dispose of all hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste and seek to minimize the presence of these materials on campus?:
Yes

A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:

The University Hazardous Materials Management Program uses inventory and waste minimization to help reduce hazardous, special, universal and non-regulated chemical waste. Using a reduction of the quantity ordered and reusing or recycling when safe, the University minimizes impact to the environment and drastically reduces costs in both purchasing and hazardous waste disposal fees. Waste minimization is further realized through efficient material management, when possible, substitution of less hazardous materials, good laboratory procedures, and the migration to micro techniques (i.e., microchemistry) when performing research or classroom laboratory experiments.
The University community is required to adhere to the following guidelines for hazardous waste minimization whenever possible:
1. Order only the amount of chemical needed for the job, project or experiment; the cost for regulated disposal outweighs the savings from bulk orders;
2. Plan a procedure for waste disposal before starting on a project;
3. Use only the amount of chemical needed for conclusive results;
4. Avoid long term storage; items unused for > 1 year should be removed as waste to avoid container breakdown or other safety issues;
5. Use caution when mixing waste; never mix incompatible chemicals;
6. Always label waste properly;
7. Hazardous materials labeled as waste must be removed for proper disposal within 90 days of accumulation date.


A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:

The University contracts with a third-party licensed hazardous waste vendor to properly remove hazardous waste from campus for disposal every 90 days per state regulation. The third-party vendor is Clean Harbors. Clean Harbors offers numerous alternatives to waste disposal by providing a variety of recycling, reuse and reclamation options for hazardous and non-hazardous materials—including solvents, precious metals, chemicals, oil, light bulbs, transformers and other electrical equipment.

Clean Harbors finds beneficial uses for hazardous wastes:
- They recycle oil, antifreeze and other automotive products.
- They blend high BTU liquids, solids and semi-solids for use as supplemental fuel used to manufacture cement.
- They offer a full range of solvent recycling options from traditional recycling to tolling, or a combination of the two. Recovered products that are not returned to customers are available for sale.
- They disassemble broken or obsolete electronic equipment, light bulbs, small home appliances and utility company transformers and recycle usable materials.


A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:

There have been no significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years.


A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:

The Safety & Risk Management Department adopted the use of and maintains a chemical inventory database called Risk & Safety Solutions (RSS), which contains a module for chemical inventory referred to as, "Chemicals." This is a web-based system that facilitates the collection and storage of chemical data including types, names, SDS documents, labels, amounts, locations, hazards, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other chemical inventory information for laboratories and other facilities on campus. Departments can transfer chemicals for reuse, tracking the location of the chemical storage area, utilizing this RSS system.


Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by the institution?:
Yes

Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by students?:
Yes

A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program(s), including information about how electronic waste generated by the institution and/or students is recycled:

The University’s Property Management Department schedules the pickup of tagged electronic waste from individual departments upon request and the Safety & Risk Management Department arranges for the pickup and recycling of batteries. Used printer toner cartridges are collected by Facilities Services, and evaluated for recycling by Support Services, from bins located in the copy centers of the six major campus buildings. E-waste is stored by Facilities in a resource center facility until a sufficient quantity is collected for pick up by the contracted e-waste recycler, who is an approved collector by the California Integrated Waste Management Board. Used battery containers are located in multiple buildings on campus to facilitate battery recycling for employees and students.


Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Yes

Website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous waste program is available:
https://www.csustan.edu/safety-risk-management/hazardous-materials-management

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.