Colorado College
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

Colorado College does not generate much “special” waste and those situations are evaluated on a case by case basis. The college does its best to reduce the amount of universal waste it sends for disposal by recycling as much as possible. The college recycles leftover paint, light bulbs, batteries and empty aerosol cans. Used motor oil is reused as fuel to heat the automotive shop at Colorado College. The science departments on campus have also taken steps to reduce the amount of hazardous waste they generate by changing purchasing practices and changing lab procedures. The science departments are encouraged to purchase amounts of chemicals to match their needs instead of buying materials in bulk. They have also altered student lab experiments by substituting in less hazardous chemicals where possible and changing to microscale experiments which use smaller quantities of chemicals.

Colorado College is dedicated to the protection and conservation of the environment. Established Federal and state regulations require that the College ensure that hazardous, bio-hazardous and universal wastes be properly managed “cradle-to-grave”. The Environmental Health and Safety department is directly responsible for the management of these wastes for the College and works with a third party contractor to ensure the safe and legal disposal of the hazardous waste generated.

There have been no significant incidents within the previous three years.

The Colorado College Department of Environmental Health and Safety operates a Chemical Redistribution Program which accepts both opened and unopened bottles of unwanted but still usable chemicals and lab ware, and redistributes them to others on campus. The redistribution of chemicals and lab ware is free to any interested college department or research laboratory. The program’s objective is to redistribute any useable chemical that would otherwise be disposed of as hazardous waste.

The IT department organizes a monthly pick-up of electronic materials such as hard drives, floppy disks, laptops, keyboards, monitors, microwaves, scanners, cameras, cell phones, circuit boards, etc. Collection buckets for batteries and small electronics are located in the library, the student center, and the facilities office.

Colorado College employs Metech Recycling to provide its electronic waste recycling. Metech Recycling is a founding member of the Basel Action Network (BAN) e-Stewards program, and signer of the BAN Pledge of True Stewardship. Metech Recycling locations are Certified e-Stewards® Recyclers. Certified e-Stewards are leading North American electronics recyclers who are qualified as upholding the highest standard of environmental and social responsibility. Metech Recycling is a Founder of e-Stewards and was the seventh company in the U.S. to become Certified e-Stewards® Recyclers.