Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 83.20
Liaison Maddie LoDico
Submission Date Nov. 5, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Colby College
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Jason Fish
Director of Safety
Human Resources
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1 

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:
Colby adheres to all Maine Department of Environmental Protection regulations, which are stricter than Federal standards. Colby is classified as a large quantity hazardous waste generator, mostly from our photography and science labs.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Colby adheres to the State of Maine environmental regulations for the disposal of hazardous, universal, and chemical waste. The State of Maine environmental regulations are significantly more stringent than federal regulations for these waste streams. We are also implementing a silver recovery unit in our photo labs, our biomedical waste is disposed of by a certified third-party company, and our radioactive waste is minimized and stored until it is harmless and no longer radioactive.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
There have not been any significant hazardous material release incidents 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:
Colby has an inventory system in which all chemicals are accounted for and checked out by users. This system allows Colby to keep track of chemicals on campus, in terms of who is using them and which are hazardous. There are no programs in place for reuse of chemicals and all used chemicals are disposed of as hazardous waste.

Part 2 

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

If yes to either of the above, provide:

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 that are retired, but still work are given to students in need for free through the Dean of Students office. Information Technology Services also donates working cell phones, brought to them by both the institution and students. All other electronic waste is managed by eWaste, a R2/RIOS certified company who re-purposes and recycles electronics.

Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Yes

Optional Fields 

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:
4.66 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.maine.gov/dep/waste/hazardouswaste/documents/hwhandbook.pdf

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.