| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 72.96 |
| Liaison | Audrey McSain |
| Submission Date | Feb. 16, 2022 |
Lehigh University
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Elaine
Kuchera Assistant Director Environmental Health and Safety |
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?:
A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
The university's Environmental Health and Safety department has strict safety protocols for chemical waste. Training is constantly offered to employees and walk-throughs of laboratory spaces occurs with frequency. EH&S is working toward identifying improvements to laboratory chemical waste programs in an effort to increase the amounts of chemicals that are shared between laboratories. We try to minimize waste by making sure that everything given to us as waste is truly a waste and not something that can be reused. We also suggest that those ordering chemicals order only the amount that they need and not the amount they think they need.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Environmental Health & Safety requires that all hazardous waste is tagged, capped, closed and submitted to EH&S for proper disposal. Departmentally-generated batteries are disposed of through a campus approved vendor. Lamps, ballasts and mercury-containing equipment are also collected and sent to campus-approved licensed disposal contractor. We have several waste rooms on campus that are used to temporarily store hazardous waste until it gets picked up every 6 months by our hazardous waste disposal company, Veolia. This includes nonhazardous waste, and any other waste that we collect for our waste room.
E-waste collection was established through a student project during this reporting year that developed e-waste collection bins for student e-waste on campus. He worked with Surplus Property & Logistics to empty bins as needed. The e-waste was then processed the same way that is described above.
A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
N/A
A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
At the present time there is no inventory system in place. However, there may be in the near future.
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by the institution?:
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by students?:
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:
For departments (faculty/staff): All electronics are collected in one location and separated, hard drives removed. The hard drives are then delivered to LTS for shredding. Electronics for recycling are separated - printers - keyboards - mice - batteries - monitors - wires - CPU's - Televisions and miscellaneous.
https://businessservices.lehigh.edu/e-waste-recycling
For students (and faculty/staff): Electronics can be donated to The Cause Network where they will either be recycled or upcycled.
https://sustainability.lehigh.edu/cause-network
Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
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:
Hazardous waste management was not impacted by COVID-19, therefore it is representative of a normal year.
Hazardous waste management was not impacted by COVID-19, therefore it is representative of a normal year.
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.