Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.16
Liaison Kylee Singh
Submission Date Sept. 19, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

California Polytechnic State University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Anastasia Nicole
Zero Waste Program Coordinator
Facilities
"---" 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:

Hazardous Materials Procurement Policy
Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo - Environmental, Health & Safety
October 30, 2017
Purpose: To comply with all applicable federal, state and local regulations and
California State and Campus policies involving the procurement of hazardous
materials as defined in this Policy.
Definition: Hazardous materials may include hazardous chemicals, compressed
gases, radioactive materials, biological organisms, and controlled substances and
precursor chemicals, as defined by federal, state, and local regulations and
University policies.
Responsibilities:
Purchasing hazardous materials as defined above, whether through the use of a
Procurement (P-Card), Purchase Order, or other approved procurement method,
shall require the following:
Purchaser:
• All purchases of hazardous materials must be approved by the department chair,
director, or administrator. Dept. chairs, administrators, or directors may choose
to designate an individual or individuals (designee) in their department or area
that may purchase hazardous materials on a blanket approval from the
department chair. Designees must agree to follow all purchasing responsibilities
as contained in this policy.
• The purchaser or their designee is responsible to do the due diligence in
investigating whether the materials purchased are hazardous.
• The purchaser is responsible to update the hazardous materials written
inventory annually and notify the Environmental, Health & Safety Department at
environmental-health-safety@calpoly.edu.
• RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS: All radioactive materials must be purchased by the
Radiation Safety Officer in EH&S (RSO). Requests must be sent to the RSO with
a chart field string to be charged to the requesting department or grant. For
more information, see the Radiation Safety Manual
• CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES and PRECURSOR CHEMICALS: The purchaser shall
seek and receive approval for the purchase of controlled substances and/or
precursor chemicals as described above. In addition, the purchaser must request
approval from EH&S prior to submitting the request to purchase.
• The purchaser is responsible to comply with all applicable federal, state, local
regulations and California State University and Campus policies and procedures.
Environmental, Health & Safety Department (EH&S):
EH&S is responsible to develop and communicate all policies and procedures
regarding the procurement, storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials
associated with campus activities.
• EH&S is responsible to approve the purchase, safe storage, use and disposal of
Radioactive Materials and Controlled Substances and Precursor Chemicals.
• EH&S is responsible to conduct regulatory and policy compliance audits of
randomly selected departments where hazardous materials are procured,
stored, handled or disposed, and report the audit findings to the department
chair, head or administrator.
Dean, Director, Department Chair, Department Administrator:
The department chair, director, administrator, or designated safety coordinator
shall ensure:
• All hazardous material purchases are included in their department’s hazardous
materials inventory and communicated to EH&S.
• All affected faculty, staff and student assistants are notified of and comply with
the requirements of this policy.

https://afd.calpoly.edu/ehs/hazardouswaste


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

All hazardous waste is disposed of via our hazardous waste contractor. If it is not hazardous (non-hazardous waste is different), disposal is by conventional means: common trash, recycling, etc


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

None


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

We are implementing RSS brand system of campus-wide inventory. This will allow ready sharing and re-purposing of unused/unwanted laboratory chemicals.


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:

Campus housing ensures that collection exists just before and during spring Move-Out to allow students to donate E-waste for reuse, refurbishment or recycling.

All institutional electronic waste is collected at one location for sorting and processing. There are two main paths for electronic waste. Electronic waste that is deemed reusable is made available for redistribution to the entire institution then sold to the public via an online auction system if the institution has no need for the electronics'. For electronic waste that is deemed unusable or can't be refurbish it is collected and sent to an electronic waste recycler.

Our institution contracts with ERI Direct for electronic waste recycling. They are certified under the e-Stewards and Responsible Recycling (R2) standards.


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:
52 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.