Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.84
Liaison Paul Edlund
Submission Date Feb. 19, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Montana State University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Logun Norris
Recycling Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1 

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:
MSU's practice is to balance need and functionality against risk and availability of options. The best outcome is elimination of the hazard. If that is not possible we choose the least hazardous/lowest risk option. All the labs across campus have glass cleanup kits that help reduce the hazards of broken glass.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
MSU has disposal programs for Hazardous waste, universal waste, biological waste and electronic waste. There are Safety Risk and Management protocols in place regarding the handling of any hazardous wastes and response to any incidents by employees. Depending on the type of hazardous waste, it is disposed of following DEQ requirements for the State of Montana.

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 during the previous three years.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
There is currently no defined inventory system. MSU is in the process of issuing an RFP to purchase a chemical inventory system allowing re-use/redistribution that can be done in a comprehensive way. At this time, researchers keep/re-use surplus chemicals and the un-usable/un-desired chemicals are declared waste and disposed of.

Part 2 

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:
Institutionally generated electronic waste is routed through our E-Scrap program which includes refurbish, re-use and recycle options. The following e-waste items are collected: batteries, computers, monitors, light bulbs, desktops and electrical wiring. These materials are sent out on a monthly basis and responsibly recycled/disposed of by different companies. During the resident move-out process, the e-waste department on campus collects any e-waste collected from the swap tables. MSU's Office of Sustainability manages a battery recycling program that is available to students and has collection locations at various locations around campus such as the library and outdoor recreation program.

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

Optional Fields 

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:
26.50 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:
Safety Risk and Management did not have any reported release of hazardous materials in the past three years. E-waste weights are included in the recycling weight numbers, but other hazardous wastes are not included. Students can recycle e-waste during move out, and can recycle batteries year round.

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.