| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.91 |
| Liaison | Julie Hopper |
| Submission Date | Dec. 20, 2023 |
University of Southern California
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Julie
Hopper Data Analyst Office of Sustainability |
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:
USC’s Hazardous Materials Division of Environmental Health & Safety works closely with all campus departments and vendors, and continues to search for new technologies to reduce the university’s hazardous waste. Currently, the institution disposes of its chemical bulk waste every ~20 days for fuel blending. Fuel blending reduces the overall waste disposal costs for the university and supports the institution’s sustainability objectives. USC Hazardous waste disposes of the university’s oily rags pack waste every 45 days for solids to energy. The institution’s universal waste is disposed of every 5-7 days.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
At USC, recyclable hazardous waste includes flammable and halogenated solvents that are fuel-blended along with waste oils to power cargo ships. Oily rags are processed as solids-to-energy for the activation of cement kilns. Additionally, silver from spent photographic reagents is recovered for reuse, alkaline batteries, used toner cartridges, and fluorescent lamps are recycled, and non-expired, surplus chemicals from research laboratories are re-distributed where needed. Some non-recyclable hazardous waste includes biomedical and radioactive waste from research facilities; pharmaceuticals and chemotherapeutics; and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
See the attached USC EH&S Sustainability Impact Report for more details.
USC’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) recycles thousands of pounds of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste each year, with the amount of each type of material recycled fluctuating over the course of the year.
To start the Hazardous Chemical Waste collection process, USC employees should take the following steps:
1) Segregate chemical waste into appropriate waste streams. Do not mix solid waste with liquid waste.
2) Select the appropriate chemical containers for disposal.
3) Fill out an adhesive hazardous waste label or tag (supplied by EH&S) and apply to each container (see Hazardous Waste Labeling Guide Sheet for details: http://tiny.cc/usc-hazwaste-lblng).
4) Stage the containers per instructions in the Hazardous Waste Prep and Staging Guide Sheet (http://tiny.cc/usc-ehs-hazwastePrp).
5) Request a hazardous waste pick-up via the USC EHSA portal https://ehs.usc.edu/hazmat-mgmt/request-a-hazardous-waste-pickup/
Or https://ehs.usc.edu/research/lab/manage/risk-and-safety-solutions-rss/
To start the Biohazardous (Infectious) Waste collection process, USC employees should take the following steps:
1) Select the appropriate bio containers for disposal.
2) Keep 33-gallon containers clean at all times. DO NOT remove the inner red bag.
3) DO NOT exceed the “fill line” of sharps and pharmaceutical/chemotherapy containers.
4) Request a hazardous waste pick-up via the USC EHSA portal.
For universal waste, members of the USC community can request a universal waste pick-up online (http://tiny.cc/hazWaste-PU) or contact USC Surplus Sales to schedule a pick up of any reusable equipment in order to extend the product's lifespan.
For more information on USC's waste disposal practices, see the below website and fact sheets created by USC’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety:
USC EH&S website: https://ehs.usc.edu/hazmat-mgmt/
Universal Waste Management fact sheet: https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.usc.edu/dist/0/713/files/2018/04/Universal-Waste.pdf
Recycling Hazardous Waste fact sheet: https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.usc.edu/dist/0/713/files/2017/06/ehs-fact-sheet-recycling-hazardous-waste.pdf
Hazardous Waste Disposal fact sheet: https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.usc.edu/dist/0/713/files/2019/04/haz-waste-disposal-guide-sheet.pdf
A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
Zero incidents have occurred in the past three years.
A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
USC’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) uses the Risk and Safety Solutions (RSS) Chemical Inventory management system. This new chemical inventory management system serves USC stakeholders in the management of chemical inventory, hazard assessment, and waste disposal. An initial chemical inventory of labs and storage spaces is conducted by EH&S and entered in RSS. Once the initial inventory is complete, labs are responsible for maintaining an accurate chemical inventory i.e., input and RFID newly acquired chemicals, manage accurate sublocations within the lab space, and remove empty and/or unwanted containers from the system.
The RSS Chemicals Application,can be downloaded onto mobile devices and used to RFID tag each container.
This new system also enables transfers of chemicals from one lab to another to prevent the waste of chemicals that are unexpired and uncontaminated.
https://ehs.usc.edu/research/lab/manage/risk-and-safety-solutions-rss/
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:
University Policy requires USC Housing to collect any unwanted electronic waste and contact the Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S). All regulated waste must be managed by EH&S in accordance with all federal, state and local regulations. USC offices and departments may request a universal waste pickup from EH&S. The university's Universal Waste Management fact sheet also emphasizes various methods of reducing e-waste before providing information about placing a request for Environmental Health and Safety to dispose of any universal waste.
For more information, see the Universal Waste fact sheet: https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.usc.edu/dist/0/713/files/2018/04/Universal-Waste.pdf
Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous waste program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Data updated as of 10/05/2023
Data updated as of 10/05/2023
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.