Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 75.93
Liaison Merry Rankin
Submission Date Aug. 30, 2013
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

Iowa State University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Sean Whalen
Environmental Programs Manager
Environmental Health and Safety
"---" 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:
Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) ensures proper hazardous waste management by administering the Environmental Protection Agency Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program, and other applicable state and local rules or policies. RCRA regulates the generation, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste items, and mandates that generators of hazardous waste implement waste minimization practices. University personnel must, whenever practical, minimize the generation of hazardous waste by utilizing the practices described in the ISU Waste and Recycling Manual, or by other suitable means. EH&S also operates a chemical redistribution or "recycling" program as part of a campus-wide waste minimization effort. EH&S stores surplus chemicals received in good condition from Iowa State facilities and offers them free of charge to the university community. Laboratory personnel interested in receiving recycled chemicals are encouraged to review the chemical redistribution list.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
University personnel are prohibited from discharging-or allowing or causing to be discharged-hazardous wastes to the land, surfaces, waters, and sanitary or stormwater systems of Iowa State University. University personnel are required to report any discharge, spill, or release of hazardous waste immediately to Environmental Health and Safety or ISU Police. Campus chemical waste generators are instructed to collect ALL chemicals wastes in appropriate accumulation areas (SAAs). SAAs are marked with signage which includes proper EPA management requirements. Users must also complete hazardous waste generator training available through EH&S. EH&S staff collect, categorize and store all chemical wastes produced by Iowa State University. EH&S manages the waste in a state-of-the-art accumulation facility, which provides segregation and containment. Wastes are shipped off-site at least every 90 days by ISU’s current hazardous waste contractor, Clean Harbors, Incorporated. Other waste streams managed by EH&S include: Universal Wastes such as lamps, mercury, and pesticides; used oil and oil filters; PCB oil, contaminated items and light ballasts; non-PCB light ballasts; and non-medical sharps and biohazard waste.

The website URL where information about hazardous materials management is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
http://www.ehs.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/manuals/mumm.pdf www.ehs.iastate.edu/waste/chemical-redistribution

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.