Overall Rating Reporter
Overall Score
Liaison Ian Shannon
Submission Date Dec. 10, 2021

STARS v2.2

Ringling College of Art and Design
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete Reporter Andreas Wolfram
Energy and Sustainability Manager
Facilities Operations
"---" 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:
The College uses the following techniques to reduce different waste types on campus:
Purchase non-hazardous materials when possible to prevent a hazardous waste being generated.
Only purchase materials that can be used before their expiration date.
Use hazardous materials for the purpose for which it is intended.
Reuse solvents multiple times.
Donate materials when appropriate, to prevent a waste being generated.
Only accept donations that can be foreseen to be useful.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
The College is a Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator. Hazardous wastes are collected as required by a chemical waste vendor. Universal wastes accumulate in one location and are picked up as needed throughout the year.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
There have not been any significant hazardous material releases in the previous three years.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
We do not have any laboratories on campus.
As we are a small campus with limited amounts of chemicals, an inventory isn't required. The technicians do share chemicals between the art's departments.

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:
a.) Ringling's first priority is to reuse equipment whenever possible. As an example, a new lab with non-compute intensive needs was created using iMacs that had been taken out of service.
b.) Secondly, IT personnel refurbish or upgrade technology gears by adding more memory and larger capacity hard drives, or upgrading processors, etc.
c.) The third step for obsolete, viable electronics is to donate them to schools, libraries, and charitable organizations.
d.) Step four is to sell obsolete gears to a certified re-saler who will process and sell them, keeping them out of the e-waste stream.
e.) Step five is to return the gears to the original manufacturer provided they offer a recycling service. 25 states have mandated that manufacturers offer e-waste recycling. The majority use the Producer Responsibility approach where the manufacturer must offer and pay for the recycling. Several companies have been doing this voluntarily for quite some time including Apple, HP, and Dell.
f.) The sixth step is to dispose of the gears through our registered recycler, Intech AR who de-manufactures the electronics, salvaging viable individual components and recycling the remainder.
g.) At the end of each semester, email notices are sent to students and employees to inform them that the college will collect electronic waste. This waste is disposed through our registered recycler, Intech AR.

Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
No

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:
Electronic waste diverted from a landfill/incinerator = 5.257 tons (year 2015) to a reseller.

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