Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 55.41
Liaison Kristin Larson
Submission Date March 2, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

San Diego State University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Terry Gee
Director of Environmental Health and Safety
Environmental Health and Safety
"---" 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:

As far as UW, all the batteries, except Alkaline, collected by EH&S are recycled. Fluorescent lamps are being replaced by LED lamps which are less hazardous. As far as HW, part of our annual training encourages research labs to recycle and reuse their hazardous materials. Also, we encourage them to purchase smaller amounts of hazardous materials so that there is not a large stockpile of chemicals not being used and will end up as being HW.


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

All HW, UW, and Non-HW are sent to EPA/Cal-EPA approved facilities for disposal.


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

The last reportable hazardous materials release happened was a 20-gallon release of unleaded gasoline in parking lot 16. Unfortunately, it was happening at the same time as a heavy rainfall, and the amount of recovered material could not be quantified. EH&S did the initial response by laying down booms and then oil pads to get as much of the floating gasoline as possible. However, the rainfall increase and an emergency response vendor was called in to help with the spill control and remediation.


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

At present, we have a purchase and inventory program, Chemtracker, to get a handle on the many inventories present on Campus. When the program is fully functional, we can set up a reuse or redistribution system. At present, sharing of chemicals is up to the individual Principal Investigators.


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

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:

All equipment that a department no longer needs, including computers and other electronics, gets sent to our surplus department. The surplus is then either auctioned or disposed of properly. Electronic waste gets recycled through Tycoon Materials. Students may bring their e-waste to the surplus center or through Housing.


Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Yes

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:
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives 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.