| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 45.77 |
| Liaison | Joe Herbst |
| Submission Date | Jan. 17, 2014 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Minnesota State University Moorhead
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.75 / 1.00 |
Josh
Costello Intern Office of Campus Sustainability |
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?:
A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
CHEMICAL WASTE DISPOSAL
These guidelines are provided to help ensure safe, efficient, and legally compliant handling and disposal of hazardous waste.These guidelines have been prepared to assist employees in packaging chemical waste materials only. Other requirements must be met whenever radioactive or bio-hazardous materials are handled.
Never dispose of any solid or liquid chemical or other hazardous materials in the general trash or down the drain. All chemical hazardous waste must be disposed through the Office of Environmental Health and Safety at extension (2998).
Waste disposal requests may be made through the EH&S website (http://web.mnstate.edu/ehs/) or call EH&S (2998). Be sure to supply all requested information and clearly describe the waste to be picked up. This will help prevent delays in picking up your waste.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
All hazardous waste is picked up every 6 months by the University of MN through their state wide Chemical Safety Day Program. Al Breuer and several lab technicians from Bioscience, Physics, and Chemistry Depts. are responsible for the management, collection, manifesting, etc. of such waste. It’s transported to the U of MN’s Integrated Waste Management Facility where they properly manage it to its final destiny.
A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
There have not been any incidents.
A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
SOURCE REDUCTION AND WASTE MINIMIZATION
Many laboratory waste streams can be minimized by properly managing chemical inventories:
Develop a centralized chemical purchasing, inventory, tracking, and storage system.
Purchase and use the smallest quantity of chemicals suitable to your needs and rotate chemical stock to prevent chemicals from becoming too old to use. A good rule is to order chemicals in quantities that will be used in about a year.
Label and store all chemical containers properly to prevent chemical contamination or degradation.
Practice good housekeeping in your laboratory or facility.
Develop and implement laboratory procedures to reduce chemical use and properly manage generated wastes.
Downscale chemical volumes and increase the use of instrumentation.
Examine laboratory or facilities procedures and substitute less hazardous or recyclable chemicals whenever possible.
Incorporate processes for waste minimization into existing experimental protocols to reduce final volumes of chemical wastes. Neutralize or detoxify intermediates and byproducts during the experimental process. Treat or destroy hazardous materials as the last step in experiments.
Reuse and/or recycle spent solvents and recover metal from spent catalyst.
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish all electronic waste generated by the institution?:
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by students?:
A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program(s):
The Information Technology collects electronic waste and disposes it in an environmentally friendly manner.
A brief description of steps taken to ensure that e-waste is recycled responsibly, workers’ basic safety is protected, and environmental standards are met:
Materials are recycled through the county.
The website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous and electronic-waste recycling programs is available:
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.