Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 42.13
Liaison Eva Rocke
Submission Date June 30, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Montana
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Madeleine Jones
ASUM Sustainability Coordinator
ASUM
"---" 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:

Departments are encourage to purchase only the amount of chemicals necessary and not stockpile or store additional chemicals. A central purchasing department called Chem Stores oversees the purchase of chemicals and can assist deparments in sharing when appropriate.


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

The University of Montana has a hazardous waste collection program. Hazardous waste is collected and containerized on-site. Solvents are bulked in 55 gallon drums and shipped off-site for incineration. Elemental neutralization also occurs on-site and disposed of. Biohazardous waste is collected from across campus and items that cannot be autoclaved or chemically treated are shipped off-site for treatment and disposal.


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:

The University stopped the chemical reuse program due to lack of storage space.


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?:
Yes

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 labor crew handles more then 90% of the E-waste; students do not handle it. The labor crew, and UM's Recycling Coordinator, consists of the only people that handle the E-waste. They have special guidelines they follow to make sure they are getting rid of the waste in a safe and responsibly way.
o Any equipment that is brought in that holds personal data is first destroyed. Then the equipment is palletized and shrink-wrapped. The university of Montana then sends the equipment to ECS refining, located in California


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:
20 Tons

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:

Kay Altenhofen- Environmental Health Department
E-mail: kay.altenhofen@umontana.edu
Phone: (406) 243-4503


Kay Altenhofen- Environmental Health Department
E-mail: kay.altenhofen@umontana.edu
Phone: (406) 243-4503

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.