Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.83
Liaison Andrew Porter
Submission Date March 10, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Cincinnati
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.75 / 1.00 Daniel Hart
Sustainability Coordinator
Planning + Design + Construction
"---" 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:

UC's Environmental Health and Safety department has issued advisory guidance on the reduction of hazardous waste. EHS implements a waste management program with to goal to reduce the amount of waste generated. EHS guidance covers waste audits, material substitution, equipment redesign, recycling and reuse, waste exchanges, detoxification, reduction of scale, purchasing criteria, control of reagents, pre-planning of experiments, and planning for recapitalization of facilities.


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

Environmental Health and Safety requires all departments generating chemical or infectious waste to develop a Chemical Hygiene Plan in consultation with EHS staff. EHS responds to all hazardous materials incidents.


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

n/a


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

N/A


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?:
No

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 UC Surplus Management group has had in place since FY08 a detailed program for the handling of e-waste through the use of external vendors. This process begins with a UC department submitting a downloadable, electronic 'SE' (surplus equipment) request form. Once the SE request form is received and reviewed, it is forwarded to UC Moving Services for safe pick-up and delivery to Surplus Management. Upon arrival at Surplus Management, the contents of each request are verified and a determination is made as to the correct handling and routing needed to comply with Information Security, Radiation Safety and Environmental Health & Safety guidelines. Once e-waste items have been separated from other surplus, they are broken down again into smaller groups based on type. For example, all computer monitors that are unusable are secured and packaged in preparation for shipment to the vendor that has been approved for secure, environmentally correct destruction of that type of item (monitors are handled cooperatively with EH&S). The same process is used for all other varieties or e-waste including computers, printers, scanners, copiers, network and telecommunications equipment, etc. This process in continually expanding and now includes the secure handling of smaller items such as batteries and toner cartridges. All information regarding the SE Request process can be found at the included link. Please take note of the section entitled 'Additional Special Handling Required' as it addresses aspects of keeping UC employees who handle and transport equipment safe. All electronic waste is disposed of centrally by UC Surplus Management. Appropriately certified vendors are used to ensure electronic waste is recycled in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.


Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Yes

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:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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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.