Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 45.14
Liaison Kristina Hope
Submission Date Feb. 2, 2024

STARS v2.2

Knox College
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Kristina Hope
Director of Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Hazardous waste minimization and disposal

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 chemistry and art departments have taken measures to reduce overall consumption of hazardous materials within their departments. Grounds and housekeeping avoid hazardous chemical use wherever possible. When transitioning to "greener" chemicals, housekeeping depletes existing stock through normal use. By replacing CFL bulbs with LED bulbs in some areas, Knox is taking steps towards reducing the future generation of universal waste.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
All disposal of hazardous materials is managed by the Director of Facilities and coordinated with EPA-licensed and approved vendors. All T-8s, T-12s, and CFLs are crushed in a sealed EPA-approved bulb crusher, and disposed of by EPA approved parties. Alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries, and silver oxide batteries are sent to different EPA-licensed recyclers that properly recover the materials.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
None reported

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
none.

Part 2. Electronic waste diversion

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:
Collection sites are present for campus-generated e-waste as well as student and staff-generated small electronics. Large e-waste is sent to a local company for refurbishment or recycling. Small consumer e-waste is recycled through third party associates.

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

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous waste program is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.