Overall Rating Platinum - expired
Overall Score 88.14
Liaison Tonie Miyamoto
Submission Date Dec. 6, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Colorado State University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Carol Dollard
Energy Engineer
Facilities Management
"---" 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:

The Chemical Management Unit – Hazardous Waste Division (CMU-Haz) is dedicated to ensuring proper management and disposal of all hazardous/ universal/ non-regulated chemical wastes generated by research, teaching and facilities operations at Colorado State University (CSU). Safe and environmentally sound management of chemical waste is an integral part of the CMU-Haz mission. This commitment allows CSU to meet its compliance obligations concerning federal, state, and local regulations pertaining to the management of chemical wastes.

CMU-Haz provides assistance for the disposal of chemical waste materials generated at CSU. We provide training on waste management and regulate the proper handling and accumulation of all wastes. The service we provide is free of charge to all individuals who work at CSU and generate normal waste.

The CMU is redeveloping our hazardous materials database to better characterize wastes and to aid in the reduction/ reuse/ repurpose of chemicals collected. A new ordering system is coming on-line that will enable users to search chemical stocks the CMU has deemed reusable and/or have a standing request for any certain chemical product that is collected by the CMU prior to having to order the chemical.


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

Trained professionals from the CMU-Haz, routinely collect these wastes from generators as they use our electronic Request for Disposal (eRFD) system. The wastes are then segregated, bulked if compatible, or safely stored at our Regulated Materials Building. A licensed hazardous waste contractor further segregates, lab packs, manifests, and transport CSU’s waste to the appropriate disposal facility.

These CMU-Haz professionals also carry out lab cleanouts and respond to special pickups or emergency responses.


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 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:

The CMU has a campus-wide Chemical Inventory Program which allows individual Principal Investigators (PIs) to maintain oversight of the chemicals in their possession. They can share part or all of their inventory with other invites PIs to facilitate sharing of chemicals. Chemicals coming onto Campus are barcoded for ease of the inventory process.


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:

The Surplus Property department handles all excess material from the University including electronic waste that is generated and first attempts to refurbish and resell all functional equipment, harvests non-functional equipment for useable or saleable parts, and all other e-waste, in whole or in part, is sent to our certified vendor for recycling.

The Surplus Property department offers electronic waste recycling for a fee to all who bring those items to the Surplus Property Department at any time of the year. Surplus Property hosts an annual free collection event during Earth Week, and further, recycles all electronic waste that is generated by students moving out of the on campus residence halls during the move out period.

The Surplus Property department will accept student e-waste at its facility and also picks up all excess electronics from campus locations and brings those items back to its facility for further processing. Housing & Dining Services provides Techno-Trash bins in all residence hall and apartment buildings on campus for ease of use. Once tested, if an item is found to be in operational condition or can be refurbished it is then sold through the Surplus Property store. Items that are non-functional are sent to our certified e-waste vendor for further processing, de-manufacturing, and recycling. The Surplus Property department also is in charge of all data sanitization for end of life data containing devices and wipes all devices to NIST SP 800-88r1 standards or physically crushes devices if they fail the wiping process. The Surplus Property department is also a NAID member organization.


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:
19.90 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

These e-waste totals do not account for reuse and resale only weights associated with end of life recycling.

http://cr.colostate.edu/surplus-property.html (Surplus Home Page - references e-waste recycling towards the bottom)

http://cr.colostate.edu/surplus-for-departments.html#spservicefees (Gives more information on e-waste recycling fees)


These e-waste totals do not account for reuse and resale only weights associated with end of life recycling.

http://cr.colostate.edu/surplus-property.html (Surplus Home Page - references e-waste recycling towards the bottom)

http://cr.colostate.edu/surplus-for-departments.html#spservicefees (Gives more information on e-waste recycling fees)

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.