Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 71.70
Liaison Marianne Martin
Submission Date Sept. 22, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of Colorado Boulder
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Mark Lapham
Hazardous Materials Manager
Environmental Health and Safety
"---" 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:

The Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) provides training to all hazardous waste generators on campus. This training includes methods and recommendations of ways to reduce hazardous wastes. EH&S also operates a chemical treatment center that treats all photographic wastes, certain corrosive wastes, and low level organic aqueous wastes from campus operations to reduce the impact and toxicity of these wastes upon their eventual disposal.


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

The Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) operates an EPA-permitted waste Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility. This facility allows EH&S to reduce materials used in packaging wastes for transportation and increase efficiency in disposal of wastes collected from campus operations. Waste disposal requests from campus personnel are carefully evaluated and classified based on compatibility, transportation regulations, and hazardous waste disposal requirements. Wastes are either consolidated with other similar wastes or lab packed before being sent for off site disposal to EPA-permitted facilities.


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

No significant hazardous material releases occurred 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:

The Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) designed a chemical inventory system for the campus in 2002 and has maintained it since then. In addition to providing chemical inventory access to emergency responders, this inventory system was designed to provide laboratory researchers a convenient way to view their existing chemical inventory and avoid the need to purchase additional chemicals that may already be available.


Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish all 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?:
Yes

A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program(s):

All surplus electronics from the institution are required to be processed by Property Services at the end of their useful lifespan. 100% of surplus electronics are recycled, re-used on campus, or re-used by external purchasers. CPUs and other electronics with little to no re-sale value are de-manufactured on site, to separate commodities such as motherboards, circuit boards, power supply, metals, plastics, etc., for the greatest recycling benefit.


A brief description of steps taken to ensure that e-waste is recycled responsibly, workers’ basic safety is protected, and environmental standards are met:

For example, CRTs are recycled by a reputable recycler that is in the process of obtaining ISO 14001 / ISO 9001 Registration – the internationally recognized, independent and rigorous audit certification which evaluates a company’s environmental management system and commitment to continual improvement in environmental performance. The secondary recycler also adheres to the standards of the Instituted of Scrap Recycling Industries, (ISRI), and the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID).

Similar programs exist for other equipment.


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:
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