Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 50.88
Liaison Joanne Wong
Submission Date May 31, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Mills College
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Linda Zitzner
Director of Campus Facilities
Facilities
"---" 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 institution tracks, monitors and optimizes chemical usage. Reusable batteries are prioritized.


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

The institution discards hazardous, univeral and non-regulated waste through a third-party certified service provider.


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

None.


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

The Chemistry and Biology Departments conserve and reuse laboratory chemicals as much as possible. Labs are designed to minimize waste and maximize reuse. For example, silver from a General Chemistry Laboratory is retained, cleaned, and reused year after year.


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 Mills College IT Department picks up any e-waste upon request from a department. Mills-owned equipment that is still in working order is donated to the Oakland Unified School District for K-12 students to use. For e-waste that is not in working order or student e-waste, Mills partners with an outside company to come pick it up and process it. The company Mills partners with is a cradle to cradle operation for electronic waste and has been recycling since 1980. They are BAN e-Steward certified as well as ISO 14001 certified. Because of these certifications and a transparent paper trail, Mills is able to be sure that the e-waste is recycled in the most environmentally sound and socially responsible way.


Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
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Electronic waste recycled or otherwise diverted from the landfill or incinerator during the most recent year for which data is available during the previous three years:
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.