Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.09
Liaison Merry Rankin
Submission Date Aug. 30, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Iowa State University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Clay Miller
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) manages hazardous waste on campus 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 through good engineering practices 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.

In Spring of 2016, utility services completed a three-year project to replace three of its five coal-fueled boilers with natural gas boilers. This reduced campus coal consumption by almost 50%, saving roughly 75,000 tons per year. Discussions regarding the replacement of the remaining two coal boilers with natural gas boilers are ongoing.


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

University personnel are prohibited from discharging hazardous waste 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 chemical waste in satellite accumulation areas (SAAs). SAAs are marked with signage which summarizes proper management requirements.

EH&S staff collect, categorize and store all hazardous waste produced by Iowa State University. EH&S manages the waste in a state-of-the-art facility, which provides segregation and containment. Wastes are shipped off-site at least every 90 days by ISU’s hazardous waste contractor.

Other waste streams managed by EH&S include: Universal Waste such as lamps, mercury, and pesticides; used oil and oil filters; PCB oil and light ballasts; non-PCB light ballasts; sharps and regulated medical waste.
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.


A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:

No significant hazardous material release incidents have occurred at Iowa State University during the past three years.


A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:

ISU Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) 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 through an online catalog. Users can view photographs of chemicals available and request the material online. EH&S personnel delivers the chemicals to the requesting user.


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:

Iowa State prides itself on being green, maintaining many initiatives and programs to enhance sustainability, including recycling electronic waste, or e-waste. E-waste is recycled by Iowa State’s Central Stores, which works with Midwest Electronic Recovery to responsibly recycle e-waste. During vendor selection, ISU confirms companies are in good financial standing, have a good environmental record and are staffed by competent personnel. ISU also requires that electronics are only processed domestically. By following these procedures Iowa State verifies proper handling of the recycled material and ensures that downstream cognizance and consideration as well as environmental responsibility and compliance are satisfied.

The university first offers its computers and electronics for resale to the public through the ISU Surplus Department. The contractor mentioned above recycles unsold items. In addition, university faculty and staff are encouraged to upgrade electronics only when necessary.

For students, the Iowa State University Department of Residence offers electronics reuse options during move-out at the end of the spring semester. Students can donate small appliances and electronics in working order via collection bins throughout residence halls, through a partnership with Goodwill. Goodwill provides all bins for electronics, as well as other usable and unwanted move-out items, and takes care of all management and distribution of collected items.


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:
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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.