Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 39.11
Liaison Yaffa Grossman
Submission Date March 16, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Beloit College
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.75 / 1.00 Lindsay Chapman
Sustainability Coordinator
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:

Chemical Reuse:
Unused and unopened chemicals being disposed of as waste due to a change in research or discontinuation of a specific research protocol should be redistributed to other laboratories that can utilize the chemical. Sharing unused chemicals will reduce the amount of chemical waste generated. Specific applicable chemicals (typically stable compounds with a long shelf life) will be picked up by the CHO and segregated in the CAA. These chemicals are inventoried in their new location.

Inventory Control
Each laboratory/studio/shop is encouraged to maintain an appropriate inventory of chemicals in their laboratory as a method to reduce unnecessary purchase and disposal. The following methods can reduce the amount of chemicals in a laboratory and minimize waste generated from expired or unwanted excess chemicals:
• Check your inventory and storerooms before ordering.
• Purchase smaller containers of chemicals or fewer containers of chemicals.
• Avoid purchasing larger quantities of chemicals to save on raw material costs.
(Chemical disposal costs are often much higher than the initial purchase cost.)
• Rotate stock of chemicals in use to ensure the older chemicals are used before
the newer chemicals.

Substitution of Less Hazardous Chemicals
In some instances, chemicals that are more environmentally friendly may be substituted for traditionally used chemicals.

Examples:
Propylene glycol instead of Ethylene glycol
Ethyl alcohol instead of Methyl alcohol
Alcohol thermometers instead of Mercury thermometers
Alconox, Pierce RBS35 and Nochromix instead of Chromic acid cleaning solutions
Detergent and hot water instead of Organic solvent cleaning solutions

Microscale (in the laboratory)

Microscale chemistry is a pollution prevention method that decreases the amount of chemical waste generated during laboratory experiments. Standard chemistry procedures are re-written for individual experiments and specialized microscale equipment is utilized to perform the work. In some cases, the amount of a particular chemical needed for an experiment has been decreased by as much as 99 percent. Microscaling has the following benefits:

• Reduce chemical waste produced at the source.
• Improve laboratory safety by decreasing potential exposure to chemicals and reducing fire and explosion hazards.
• Improve air quality due to greatly reduced volumes of solvents and other volatile substances used.
• Reduce laboratory costs for chemical purchase and disposal.
• Reduce the time required to perform experiments due to shorter chemical reaction times.
• Decrease the amount of storage space necessary for chemicals.
• Encourage students to think about waste minimization.
• Decrease disposal costs for the university.
• Increase environmental awareness for the university.

This Hazardous waste policy is designed to provide guidance for everyone at Beloit College regarding the proper disposal of hazardous waste. If anyone has additional questions regarding hazardous waste disposal they are encouraged to contact the Chemical Hygiene Officer at 608-363-2388


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

Hazardous waste collection is performed by CHO on a routine basis and can be requested via phone or email. With either method, the requester must include the following information:
• Requester: The name of the person submitting the request. This person should have knowledge of the waste in the event that the CHO has questions.
• Telephone #: A contact number for the requester or someone else with knowledge of the waste.
•Substance Location: Include the building name and room number. In addition, if the SAA is not readily apparent, the specific location of the waste container should also be noted in the event that CHO performs the waste pick-up when no lab personnel are present.
• Chemical Name: Use full chemical names. Do not use formulas or abbreviations. Include all the constituents of each waste container.
• Quantity: Include the number of containers of waste and their volumes.
Example:
Water 50%, Acetonitrile 30%, Methanol 20% 2 X 5 gallon cans
Water 50%, Acetonitrile 30%, Methanol 20% 4 X 1 gallon bottles
Acetone 100% 3 X 1 liter bottles
Hydrochloric Acid 90%, Mercuric Chloride 5% Lead Citrate 5% 1 X 100 ml
• If CHO supplies you with 5-gallon waste cans or pails, be sure to note how many replacement containers are needed. Note any additional information about the waste that you feel may be pertinent.
• In the event that waste containers to be collected are intermingled with containers that you want to keep, it is helpful if you mark which containers that are being offered for disposal.
• Remember that CHO will not accept unknown materials. All waste containers must be labeled and their contents identified.
•All waste containers must have a tightly fitting cap that will not leak during transport. Be certain that you have the correct cap for your bottle. The bottles of various chemical manufacturers all have differently threaded caps that are not interchangeable with one another. Improperly capped waste bottles will leak and will not be picked up by the CHO.
Request for Hazardous Waste Disposal can be sent by one of these two methods
•Via Phone to: 608-363-2388
• Via Email: ballous@beloit.edu
• Typically, the pick-up will occur within 2 to 5 working days after the request. Manage your waste accordingly. Do not wait to submit a request until your waste containers are completely full.


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

We have not had any significant release of hazadous material 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:

We have an online inventory system that is editable by the stockroom manager and associated student workers. The inventory is updated when a new chemical arrives and a complete inventory is done every 6 months or as deemed necessary by the CHO.


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?:
No

A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program(s):

E-waste is defined as used electronic equipment. Beloit College does recycle toner, batteries, and electronics such as old computers, servers, printers, CRT’s, TV’s and AV equipment. But in regard to old CRT’s and TV’s we only recycle Beloit College tagged equipment. Tagged means this equipment was purchased by Beloit College. These tags are removed before they leave our Campus.

Beloit College computers, printers, and servers are first donated to PCI (Paul’s Computer Institute) in Bamenda, Cameroon, Africa (West Africa). This is a school that trains students in Information and Communication Technologies. It was founded in 1997 by Paul C. Mickelson, a retired Beloit firefighter. PCI is currently owned by a Board of Directors (Friends of PCI) with headquarters in Beloit, Wisconsin. More than 400 students a year graduate from PCI.


A brief description of steps taken to ensure that e-waste is recycled responsibly, workers’ basic safety is protected, and environmental standards are met:

The usable computers that are donated to PCI are inspected by our own staff. The other accessory items are recycled through corporate programs such as Staples and Call2Recycle. Information on their environmental standards can be found on their respective websites.


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:
---

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.