Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 49.78
Liaison Sarah Rykal
Submission Date Nov. 4, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of Wisconsin-Stout
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Tim Cline
Graduate Assistant
Sustainability Office
"---" 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 university has different departments (like Chemistry and Physical Plant) that utilize reduction measures. Chemistry has switched to smaller scale experiments in many lab classes to reduce the number of chemicals, and thus hazardous waste in labs. Physical Plant has changed out many toxic custodial cleaners with non-toxic or lower-toxicity ones, to reduce hazardous wastes. Many departments recycle other commodities like batteries, toner cartridges, etc. Stout Surplus disposes of all computer/electronic e-waste through a carefully selected vendor who recycles some of the components, and safely disposes of other components per solid waste regulations.

Regarding coal ash, specific state guidelines are followed. A construction company called Pember Excavating in Menomonie, WI hauls the coal ash, and they reuse the coal ash according to Wisconsin Administration Code NR 538. It is used for fill, or road base.


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

Most hazardous waste is disposed of by licensed contractors under state contract. The current contractor for this is Veolia.


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

There has been no significant hazardous material release incidents within the previous three years.


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

The system is called CISPro, a web-based system that tracks all laboratory chemicals in the Chemistry, Biology, and Food & Nutrition departments. Among its many other uses, users can search for a chemical to see if anyone else has it if they only need a small amount. Unwanted chemicals have also been redistributed with it. The Chemical Hygiene Officer always checks first to see if anyone else wants a chemical before disposing of it.


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):

A local recycler picks up all of our non-functional electronic waste in bulk on a weekly basis and provides a summary list of all items received. Electronic waste items are sorted by the recycler and delivered to Dynamic Recycling in LaCrosse, WI. (Dynamic is a State of Wisconsin approved E-Waste recycler). All non-functional hard drives are security wiped and damaged to the point of being no longer being usable prior to pick up. They are then shredded at time of delivery to Dynamic.


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 (functional and non-functional) university owned electronics are to be sent to the Surplus Store when they are no longer needed for use by Departments. All usable electronics (with the exception of computers and laptops) are tested and offered for departmental re-use on campus each Wednesday. Items that are not claimed by departments are offered for sale at our public sale each Thursday.


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:

Information from the Executive Director of Health and Safety (Jim Uhlir), the UW-Stout Heating Plant (Brian Lorenz), Surplus Operations (Bob Dodge), and the Safety Director (Dean Sankey).


Information from the Executive Director of Health and Safety (Jim Uhlir), the UW-Stout Heating Plant (Brian Lorenz), Surplus Operations (Bob Dodge), and the Safety Director (Dean Sankey).

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.