Stanford University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Using information generated by the California SB-14 law and reports, Stanford identified high-volume wastes for minimization. These wastes are related to utilities and maintenance operations, and source reduction is the preferred method. One source reduction method is to minimize the amount of water used when cleaning cooling towers to concentrate the sludge generated. Hazardous wastes from research vary widely and do not generally lend themselves to source reduction. One successful waste minimization activity undertaken for research wastes has been to replace thimerosol (contains mercury) with other preservatives in biological research.

All regulated wastes are disposed of either through off-site high temperature incineration, fuels blending, treatment such as metals removal for aqueous wastes, or landfilling at RCRA approved facilities. Only wastes that do not lend themselves to other technologies are landfilled.

No significant releases.

Stanford makes use of the Chemtracker online chemical inventory system for all campus labs. As an additional waste reduction measure, Stanford administers a surplus chemical program through which surplus chemicals from campus labs are made available free of charge to all members of the Stanford Research Community, rather than being disposed of as hazardous waste.

The University provides a number of options for insuring that all e-waste generated via business operations is recycled. The Property Management Office (PMO) instructs individuals responsible for each department's assets in how to properly request disposal of all electronic items. For components (i.e. printers, monitors, computers, etc.), a given Department Property Administrator (DPA) initiates the disposal process by submitting an online disposal request form. PMO schedules and coordinates the pickup via the Surplus Property Store (SPS). SPS is a group within the PMO. SPS personnel pick up a given electronic item and assess its quality and condition for resale. If deemed "reusable" it is sold intact to university personnel and/or the public. If it is deemed not reusable, it is containerized for shipment to the designated recycling facility. These shipments occur weekly. PMO also coordinates e-waste drop-off stations at campus cleanup events. For smaller electronic items (i.e. batteries, cell phones, keyboards, circuit boards, etc.), Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) has approximately 100 self-service drop-off locations throughout campus. These drop-off locations are serviced on a monthly basis and all e-waste collected is evaluated and sent to SPS for reuse or recycling. This program is described on the EH&S website. Stanford University accepts proposals from various electronic waste recycling companies through a formal bid process. Each recycler is rated on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: environmental protection, financial stability, compliance with state and federal laws, and price and level/quality of service. The top three candidates are audited and ultimately a recycler is chosen. To be considered, a recycler must recycle all e-waste domestically, recycle 100% of the e-waste received (i.e. no landfill) and have the ability to provide verifiable records of recycling/destruction for each waste shipment. The recycler awarded the contract for recycling e-waste generated via university operations is given a fixed term contract to recycle all wastes. The contract is non-exclusive and if the recycler fails to meet the university's standards, Stanford reserves the right to switch vendors. For undergraduate students, recycling containers for batteries and small hand-held e-waste are provided throughout the undergraduate residences, primarily in the computer clusters. The collection container label indicates that for more help, they should contact their Housing Front Desks. The locations of the collection containers are listed on the University EH&S website for the battery recycling program. The Green Living Council partners with EH&S to provide education on e-waste recycling for students. At the end of the academic year, students have options to donate their usable electronics through the Give & Go move out program. Through this campaign, e-waste carts are distributed at every waste corral for easy disposal of reusable electronics, and collection points are also available for non-reusable electronics.