Raritan Valley Community College
OP-20: Electronic Waste Recycling Program

Materials are collected by Facilities staff and stored in a secure storage area for pick-up. The collecting organizations provide documentation of the recycled/donated items. Recycling certificates verify that the material has been recycling in accordance with US EPA and DEP waste management regulations (for NJ or PA, depending on vendor location). RVCC's maintenance department is instructed to place e-waste in a proper container. Once the containers are full, they are moved to RVCC's e-waste holding station in the West building. There the Facility and Safety Manager ensures the the items are in the appropriate containers (per DOT guidelines), then secures, labels, and dates the containers. Bulbs (Tube style) are placed in 4' or 8' cardboard drums with lid. Batteries, Ballasts, are placed into a 5 gallon buckets and sealed. To ensure worker safety, staff attend annual training on e-waste by a qualified vendor. In most cases workers handling e-waste are required to wear gloves and eye protection.

Employees and students contact the Safety and Facilities Manager for pick-up of electronic waste items other than cell phones and printer cartridges, for which there are donation bins. Battery collection bins are placed around campus. RVCC recycles lighting and ballasts, batteries, hard drives, VCRs, computers, appliances and other electronics through certified third parties. Cell phones and printer cartridges are donated to NORWESCAP's Career and Life Transitions Center for Women.

Students can place cell phones, printer cartridges, and batteries in collection bins on campus. The programs for these items are the same as for institution-generated materials. See http://www.raritanval.edu/community/forum/sustain/recycling.html for more information.