American University
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

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.

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 American University’s Hazardous Waste Management Procedures which can be found in Chapter 8 of the Chemical Hygiene Plan: http://www.american.edu/finance/rmehs/Chemical-Hygiene-Plan.cfm. Universal waste batteries and fluorescent bulbs are collected and recycled with a contractor, Corporate Lamp & Electronic Recycling.

There have been no significant hazardous material releases in the past three years.

The university maintains an internal chemical inventory system, which tracks incoming and outgoing chemical containers. This program helps to reduce excess chemical ordering and encourages sharing among researchers. This program is part of university policy, which can be found at: http://www.american.edu/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=4203833

Students, faculty, and staff can discard old electronics equipment for reuse and/or recycling by e-mailing AUSurplus@american.edu. Both personal and University-owned electronics are accepted from any student, faculty, or staff member. Cell phone collection bins are also located in common areas around campus to facilitate the easy recycling of this common electronic waste.

Students, faculty, and staff can discard old electronics equipment for reuse and/or recycling by e-mailing AUSurplus@american.edu. Both personal and University-owned electronics are accepted from any student, faculty, or staff member. Cell phone collection bins are also located in common areas around campus to facilitate the easy recycling of this common electronic waste. For AU-owned electronics, the equipment brand name, model number, serial number, and AU inventory bar code number is provided so the Department of Procurement and Contracts and OIT can update the University’s inventory. The OIT Asset Management team will pick up computers and decide whether to reuse or recycle the equipment. Data is wiped from hard drives and then it is either redeployed or sent to our contractor, 2nd Solutions, for recycling. Accepted electronics items include: Audio‐Visual Equipment, Bar Coding Equipment, Calculators, Cameras, CD ROM Drives, Cell Phones (including batteries, battery chargers and wall chargers), Circuit Boards, Communications Systems, Computer equipment, Connectors, CRTs, Fax Machines, Hard/Floppy Drives, Laptops (including batteries, battery chargers and wall chargers), Mainframes/Servers, memory, Microfiche Readers, Modems, Monitors, Motherboards, Network/Video/Sound Cards, PDAs (including batteries, battery chargers and wall chargers), Plotters/Copiers Power Supplies, Printers, Scrap Computer Metal, Scrap, Computer Plastic, Scrap Copper, Tape Drives, Televisions, and Test Equipment. Equipment that the University does not reuse internally is collected by 2nd Solutions, a company American University has contracted with who specializes in electronics waste management. 2nd Solutions attempts to reuse equipment as a first priority, and recycle as a last resort.