Overall Rating Reporter - expired
Overall Score
Liaison Brian Eisenhauer
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Plymouth State University
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete Reporter Brian Eisenhauer
Director
Office of Environmental Sustainability
"---" 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:

Weekly inspections of accumulation areas are conducted by faculty and staff. The reports are reviewed by the EHS office. Any discrepancies are addressed and follow-up is conducted if necessary. Students, faculty and staff are trained on the requirements for the handling, labeling and storage of hazardous waste.

The main campus hazardous waste storage building has been redesigned to ensure complete compliance with all required state and federal regulations.

The EHS Coordinator obtained certification as a NH Hazardous Waste Coordinator. In order to maintain the certification, annual training conducted by the state will be required. In addition to the certification, the Coordinator also received training regarding EPA, OSHA and DOT regulations.Hazardous Materials Inventory and Reporting PSU has begun to utilize the Chemical Environmental Management System (CEMS) computer program developed by the University of New Hampshire. The program and the related training, hardware and software were made available to PSU through a US Department of Justice grant administered by Keene State College. Keene State representatives have assisted PSU in the inventory preparation and data entry, and have provided training to faculty, staff, and local emergency response personnel from the University, and from the Towns of Plymouth and Holderness.

The CEMS program will allow for computer access to Material Safety Data Sheets for faculty and staff. It will also assist in the reduction of hazardous materials on site with the surplus chemical list that is part of the program.

The EHS office is grateful for the tremendous support and involvement from the faculty and staff of the Science, Art, and Performing Art departments and the staff of the Physical Plant. This program will be most effective with their continued involvement. The University Environmental Committee was also briefed on the CEMS program and they have pledged their support as well.


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

A comprehensive system is described at the link below.


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

none


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

Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish all 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?:
No

A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program(s):

handled by IT, the program uses third party verified disposal services for university equipment.


A brief description of steps taken to ensure that e-waste is recycled responsibly, workers’ basic safety is protected, and environmental standards are met:

review of corporation we work with.


The website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous and electronic-waste recycling programs is available:
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.