Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 83.26
Liaison Megan Litke
Submission Date Feb. 12, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

American University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Emily Curley
Sustainability Coordinator
Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

None
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

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A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
All hazardous, universal, radioactive, biowaste, and other chemical wastes are tracked and overseen by the Risk Management and Environmental Health and Safety department. Hazardous waste is reduced in labs through the use of a chemical inventory system which labels and codes all incoming chemicals assuring that excess chemicals are not purchased, additional chemicals are not brought to campus unnecessarily, and that chemicals are not disposed of when they could be used elsewhere. Universal waste is reduced by the facilities staff by finding new, less toxic replacements for traditional products such as green tipped fluorescent bulbs.

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A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Hazardous waste is managed in accordance with U. S. EPA Hazardous Waste Regulations (40 CFR, Parts 260 through 272) and District of Columbia Hazardous Waste Regulations. When using chemicals or hazardous materials at American University, faculty, staff, and students are expected to follow all appropriate regulations and university policies. Once any laboratory chemicals or hazardous materials have been used, all waste must be disposed of properly in accordance with the Chemical Hygiene Plan Waste Management Procedures which can be viewed at http://www.american.edu/finance/rmehs/upload/Chemical-Hygiene-Plan-11-Waste-Management-Procedures.pdf. Universal waste batteries and fluorescent bulbs are collected and recycled with a contractor, Corporate Lamp Recycling.

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The website URL where information about hazardous materials management is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The only written policy we have for hazardous waste is in the Chemical Hygiene Plan and that only covers laboratory waste.

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