California State University, Sacramento
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 1.00 |
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?:
A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
At Sacramento State, the emphasis is on first recycling wherever possible and then reducing the volume/toxicity of any other hazardous waste generated. The University participates in the California PaintCare program for recycling both oil based and latex paint products, while also participating in the nationwide Call-to-Recycle program for recycling rechargeable batteries. On the academic side, the emphasis has been to transition many of the hazardous chemicals to less toxic alternatives. Examples in the College of Natural Sciences and Math are fixatives used with specimens and intercalating agents such as ethidium bromide. In chemistry, stockrooms have been purged of old chemicals so that only necessary chemicals are kept in stock. Only items currently in use will be kept in stock, reducing the amount of future waste generated.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
For hazardous waste, there are designated personnel within the environmental health and safety department who are responsible for the proper characterization, containerization, labeling and handling of hazardous waste. Their job is to work with faculty/students to ensure the proper protocols are followed, including the proper use of personal protective equipment (ppe).
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 materials 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:
Sac State uses a chemical inventory system called Risk & Safety Solutions (RSS). It was developed at UC Davis in partnership with chemistry faculty, researchers, lab managers, EH&S, first responders and fire marshals and was designed to meet the specific needs of higher education. It is accessible via mobile app for iOS, Android devices and on desktop computers.
RSS is a powerful tool for chemical inventory management and allows us to view inventory summaries within our department, or within a specific group(s). This is helpful to reduce the number of chemicals ordered and stored within the department as bottle locations can be easily tracked to prevent ordering of chemicals that we already house within the department. Chemicals can be searched by chemical name, CAS number, product numbers, inventory names, buildings, etc. We can transfer and dispense chemical containers between research groups or the chemistry stockrooms, view container histories, easily access Safety Data Sheets (SDS), and manage chemical waste streams.
The Analytics functionality of this software is very useful as well allowing us to review our inventory of Chemicals of Interest (COI) under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), to remain under the threshold Maximum Allowable Quantities (MAQ) for fire code compliance, and to remain in compliance with CalEPA and CalOSHA standards and requirements.
This software is helps us safely and efficiently manage a chemical inventory containing thousands of chemicals.
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by the institution?:
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by students?:
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:
The procedures to divert Sacramento State's electronic waste are a joint effort between several campus agencies. Depending on the stream and the condition of the units/materials involved, we employ several possibilities to ensure diversion:
1.University equipment in working order for reuse: This equipment is collected by our IRT department, graded as operational and conditioned to remove all memory from the unit. Our Property department takes possession and, if determined to still be useful for campus agencies, is housed and available for university agencies to reuse.
2.University equipment in working order for public auction: This equipment is collected, graded and conditioned by IRT and then given to Property as before, however, these are materials deemed not to be useful for campus agencies. They are then sold at auction using the following website: publicsurplus.com
3.University equipment salvaged for parts: university equipment collected by IRT and determined to not be reusable maybe salvaged for parts which are then used to repair other equipment. The left-over components are then recycled as described in the next step.
4. University equipment determined by both IRT and Property to not be useful for campus needs and not suitable for public auction are conditioned to have all memory wiped, removed and destroyed, released from campus inventory and taken possession of by the Recycling department. All materials collected are then taken to local recycling agency California Electronic Asset Recovery (CEAR) for complete recycling.
5.The University's Housing and Residential Life department also conducts semester long collections of personal e-waste as well as at special moving-out events. These materials are then turned over to the campus Recycling department for recycling with CEAR.
Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous waste program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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.