| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 73.03 |
| Liaison | Mark Lichtenstein |
| Submission Date | June 7, 2016 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
John
Wasiel Environmental Health & Safety Officer ESF Administration |
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:
All waste materials at the College are characterized to see if they meet the definition of a hazardous waste material.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
a. If it is found that a waste material is hazardous waste, then these wastes are collected and stored in temporary locations known as satellite accumulation areas. The wastes are labeled to identify the contents and the containers are kept closed at all times. In addition, hazardous wastes are segregated to ensure chemical compatibility. Once a satellite accumulation area becomes full, the College's Environmental Health and Safety Office is contacted to complete a waste pickup for the space. All wastes are collected and transported to a "90-day storage" area on campus. Periodically, the College contacts an outside vendor to pickup all of the waste that has accumulated in the 90-day area. The vendor segregates all of the chemical waste, packs the waste material into drums, labels the drums for transportation, completes shipping paperwork (hazardous waste manifest), and finally, loads all of the drums onto a truck for transport. The waste material is then brought to a 10-day storage facility where it is placed on another truck which will take it to the final disposal facility. These disposal facilities are located all over the country and different facilities can accept and process different types of waste. Different treatment options are utilized for different waste streams. Whenever feasible, ESF prefers to recycle or reclaim waste materials. Examples of this are mercury bearing items such as thermometers and manometers. Another example is bulked solvent waste which is used as a supplemental fuel in cement kilns and is providing BTU recovery. Materials that cannot be recycled are typically sent for incineration or aqueous treatment. ESF refrains from sending material to landfills for disposal unless there are no other economically viable options.
A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
No significant incidents within the last three years.
A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
At ESF, all chemicals that are disposed have to go through the Environmental Health and Safety Office. That Office minimizes the disposal of the chemicals by donating them to other departments upon request.
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish 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), including information about how electronic waste generated by the institution and/or students is recycled:
ESF’s electronic waste program works as follows:
Individuals or groups on campus wishing to dispose of damaged or out-of-date electronics submit a work order to request their removal. The campus grounds crew picks up the electronic devices and stores them in a temporary storage area on the main campus. Once this temporary storage becomes full, the electronics are transported via a college vehicle to a storage barn at the College's Lafayette Raod Experiment Station (a few miles from the main campus). Here, the grounds crew palletizes and shrink wraps pallets of electronics in preparation for transportation to the recycling facility. Once they collect approximately 10 pallets of electronics, the grounds crew contacts the Environmental Health and Safety Office to schedule an electronics pickup.
Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
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:
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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.