Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 71.76
Liaison Mike Versteege
Submission Date Oct. 10, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

University of Alberta
OP-20: Electronic Waste Recycling Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Emily Dietrich
Program Lead-Outreach and Engagement
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a program in place to recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish all electronic waste generated by the institution and take measures to ensure that the electronic waste is recycled responsibly?:
Yes

Does the institution have a program in place to recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by students and take measures to ensure that the electronic waste is recycled responsibly?:
Yes

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 e-waste is collected centrally and transported to an e-waste recycle center. The recycler is certified by the Government of Alberta and has met all the required safety and environmental standards within the province of Alberta. The equipment is picked up by university staff. They are trained in the process and use of personal protective equipment when removing the items. For April 2013 to March 2014, 11,002 pieces of e-waste were recycled.


A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program for institution-generated materials:

All university-owned e-waste is processed through the Surplus Department at Supply Management Services (SMS). Individual departments are responsible for identifying the items and submitting a request to SMS for pickup. Once the request is received, SMS' drivers are dispatched to pick up the items. Once the equipment arrives in SMS' warehouse, a sort is performed and it is prepared for transport off-campus to a local recycler. The local recycler processes the equipment and provides our department with a record of destruction.


A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program for student-generated materials :

Collection centers are set up on campus by the UAlberta two times per year. Students and staff are permitted to dispose of personal electronics, including old or obsolete computers, televisions and other electronic devices. The items are removed from campus and taken to a local recycler.

From September to April, Sustain SU-the Student Sustainability Service, has drop-boxes set up at five InfoLink locations around campus. These locations collect smaller electronic items in order to make e-waste recycling easy and accessible for students and staff. These drop-boxes accept items like cell phones, batteries, computer ink cartridges, and are emptied bi-weekly by volunteers. Items that are too large can be brought to Sustain SU's main office. Afterwards, the materials are collected and sorted by Supply Management Services, are counted and weighed, and distributed to approved recycling centres. From May to August, only 3 of the locations have drop boxes for e-waste and these are maintained by the Sustain SU's senior staff.

Sustain SU Website: http://www.su.ualberta.ca/services/sustainsu/rethink/


The website URL where information about the e-waste recycling program is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Additional Responsible Party:

Kerstyn Lane, SUSTAIN SU, Director
Phil Webb, Supply Management Services, Director-Logistics and Business Services


Additional Responsible Party:

Kerstyn Lane, SUSTAIN SU, Director
Phil Webb, Supply Management Services, Director-Logistics and Business Services

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.