Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 73.91
Liaison Daryl Pierson
Submission Date March 1, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Portland State University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Tim Wright
Environmental Health and Safety Advisor
Environmental Health and Safety
"---" 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:
Portland State University has procedures in place to dispose of all hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste according to state and federal regulations. Portland State University has prepared a Toxic Use Reduction and Hazardous Waste Reduction Plan as required by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The Plan documents the following steps taken to reduce use of toxic chemicals and reduce the amount of hazardous waste generated: -Specifying low toxicity green cleaners to be used by the University’s janitorial contractor. -Purchasing/Specifying low VOC water based paints for use by the university maintenance crews. -Following Integrated Pest Management protocols. -Removal of organic solvent based degreasing tanks. -Use of micro-scale chemistry techniques in teaching labs.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Laboratories, maintenance crews, and others generating regulated wastes are trained to notify Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) for safe removal, storage, and disposal of these wastes. EH&S has contracts with licensed hazardous and universal waste haulers and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities to manage wastes according to state and federal regulatory requirements.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
Not applicable.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
Portland State University’s chemical stockroom is in the process of implementing new chemical inventory software that has the capacity to support a future chemical reuse program.

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:
Electronic wastes are disposed of in accordance with the Sustainable Acquisition and Disposal of Electronic Equipment (E-waste/Recover Policy) issued by the State of Oregon on December 10, 2008, and in accordance with the State of Oregon Price Agreement for the Disposal of E-Waste. These documents establish an electronics recycling program that ensure electronics are either returned to the manufacturer through a buy-back/take-back type program, or are recycled using a Qualified Rehabilitation Facility (QRF). The State has contracted with Garten Services, Inc. to serve as the QRF that recycles electronic wastes generated by state institutions. Garten’s electronic recycling program and commitment to sustainability is described at the following website: http://www.garten.org/services/admin/oregon/C46/

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:
23.86 Metric tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.pdx.edu/environmental-health-safety/hazardous-waste

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Information provided by: Tim Wright Environmental Health and Safety Advisor tdw@pdx.edu

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.