Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 73.17
Liaison Megan Litke
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

American University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Hannah Moskowitz
Sustainability Analyst
Office of Sustainability
"---" 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:

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.


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. All known generators of hazardous waste at American University undergo hazardous waste recognition and disposal training and are required to follow American University’s hazardous waste management procedures, which are discussed at http://www.american.edu/finance/environmental-health/hazwaste.cfm


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

There have been no significant hazardous material releases 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:

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


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:

All computers and electronics owned by the university are first assessed to see if they can be reused or refurbished for use on campus. If they cannot be reused they are sent to a secure storage location on campus to await pickup. Other electronics on campus from faculty and staff is collected upon request and brought to the secure storage location. We have multiple events per year where student electronics are collected and brought to storage. Once the storage unit is full our E-Waste vendor, who is R2 certified, collects the material for recycling.


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:
26.98 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.