| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 51.25 |
| Liaison | Jacob Saffert |
| Submission Date | Feb. 4, 2015 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Saint John's University
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Jacob
Saffert Sustainability Fellow Office of 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:
CSB|SJU takes a number of steps to reduce chemical waste, which are outlined online at our website. They include:
1) Purchasing smaller amounts of chemicals needed. This ultimately saves money as well because buying in bulk means certain chemicals could spoil and be wasted.
2) Centralized purchasing program to ensure full utilization of chemical products.
3) Order reagent chemicals only in amounts needed.
4) Maintain a limited inventory of chemicals on hand so those chemicals do not expire or deteriorate and necessitate disposal.
5) Institute microchemistry (scaling down the experiment to require fewer resources and therefore reduce generated waste).
6) Increase the use of instruments that require less reagent or smaller or fewer samples
7) Procedures that reduce or eliminate the volume of hazardous waste are encouraged. Workers should use the smallest quantity possible of hazardous materials. Whenever possible, the use of hazardous materials should be avoided.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
In brief, we monitor site-specific generator volume at annual reporting and question or make adjustments thereon. The primary control is education through annual trainings. As for disposal, we a contract with the University of Minnesota for removal/disposal of academic and some non-academic hazardous waste. For universal waste, each has a contract vendor for each specific waste stream. The Director of Environmental Health & Safety here at SJU, Ganard Orionzi, receives manifest records to monitor routine or high-volume waste streams. Check our website (URL) in the public notes for additional information.
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:
Our institution does not have a chemistry department (it is located at our sister school, The College of St. Benedict), and therefore the only laboratory chemicals used on campus are found within the biology department.
Regarding a chemical inventory system, we do have a campus-wide inventory system which has a “chemical exchange” function. The biology department states that if we have something in stock that we never use (chemicals), we list it in the chemical exchange. However, in terms of “reusing” chemicals, in most cases, that is not possible. If it is, the chemicals are reused. For sustainability, it is the goal of the biology department to make and use the minimum amount required for our activity.
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):
All institution-based e-waste is handled by IT Services, which monitors and maintains all computers/electronics on campus. All of this e-waste is recycled through companies in St. Cloud, MN.
A brief description of steps taken to ensure that e-waste is recycled responsibly, workers’ basic safety is protected, and environmental standards are met:
All institution-based e-waste generated on our campus is recycled at various sites in St. Cloud, which are monitored by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
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:
This information was taken from SJU's previous STARS report.
This information was taken from SJU's previous STARS report.
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.