Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 74.30
Liaison Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Submission Date Sept. 2, 2022

STARS v2.2

Polytechnique Montréal
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Sustainability Advisor
Sustainable Development Office
"---" 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:
Polytechnique has a procedure on hazardous and chemical waste management, available to the laboratory personnel and the students through training.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
During the training, different types of hazardous waste are discussed and the respective procedures to properly manage them is presented. Basically, the requirements imposed by hazardous waste suppliers are respected and Polytechnique requests that their lab personnel and students leave waste containers in their lab until the pick-up day.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
No minute or significant release happened over the last three years.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
The Health and Safety Sector has an inventory of laboratory chemicals for all laboratories and workshops within the institution. The inventory can be consulted by the lab personnel looking for a specific chemical in another research group or department. This was put in place in order to share existing chemicals, instead of buying new ones and having to discard them after a certain time.
Also, Polytechnique Montreal rarely discards “new” or unused chemicals, since this sharing process was put in place.

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:
Bins are placed in the school to collect all sorts of electronic waste (computers, screens, cellphones etc...). For small electronics (batteries, cellphones etc...), the bins are provided by Electrobac, a company that is committed to responsible disposal of electronic waste. Electrobac sends the collected electronic waste to recycling centers that are certified by the Recycler Qualification Office (http://rqp.ca/).

For larger electronic equipment (computers, printers...), another bin is available where students or employees can safely dispose of their waste. This bin is collected by E-Cycle Solutions. They send the electronic waste to their center and later send a responsible waste management certificate to Polytechnique.

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:
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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.