Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.64
Liaison Beth Klein
Submission Date April 23, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

State University of New York at Cortland
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.75 / 1.00 Matt Brubaker
Energy Manager
Facilites Management
"---" 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:

SUNY Cortland established a Chemical Procurement Program where chemicals and products are scrutinized by Environmental Health and Safety prior to purchase. Users of chemicals are requested to purchase only the quantities necessary to perform their work. Stockpiling of chemicals is not encouraged. In the event that a chemical is requested that is not TSCA listed, is extremely hazardous, or has properties that could make it hazardous, the user is strongly encouraged to find a safer substitute for that chemical. Additionally, review of chemicals/products to be used by campus workers enables our office to procure Material Safety Data Sheets for our MSDS database.


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

Hazardous waste is collected, inventoried, and disposed of through contractors such as Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc., Heritage Environmental Services, LLC., and Veolia Environmental Services. All wastes are collected, inventoried, and stored in the Chemical Management Building located at the north end of the Service Group. Disposals are coordinated from this location. Detailed lists are provided to the contractors. Disposals occur every 3 to 6 months, as SUNY Cortland is typically a Small Quantity Generator. The bulk of our wastes typically are Non-regulated. All records are kept on file in the Environmental Health and Safety Office.

The greatest volume of Universal Waste on campus are CFL lamps. SUNY Cortland collects all lamps, except incandescent lamps, and recycles them through Northeast Lamp Recycling (NLR) ( http://www.nlr-green.com/). Lamps are managed intact. If a lamp is broken, it is managed as hazardous waste. All batteries generated on campus are collected and recycled. Lead Acid and Nickel Cadmium batteries are returned to the vendor. Lithium and alkaline batteries are collected and recycled through NLR. Pesticides are ordered and used in entirety. Old, unused, and/or outdated pesticides are recycled or returned to the vendor. Mercury containing devices are recycled. Switches and thermostats are replaced with electronic devices where possible.

End users of chemicals are requested to order only what they will use and not stock-pile chemicals/products that would require disposal as hazardous or non-regulated waste. Universal waste consists mostly of used lamps and batteries. An effort to look at alternative lighting (such as LED lamps) is being explored.


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

None


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

The campus Chemical Hygienist receives the list of chemicals/products for disposal,reviews the list and determine if another department might have a use for a chemical/product. The Hygienist contacts suppliers and manufacturers to determine if they will take back unused, unopened chemicals/products instead of disposing as hazardous waste.


Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish all 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?:
No

A brief description of the electronic waste recycling program(s):

We recycle everything that has a plug. This includes Computers, printers, monitors, televisions, network equipment, scanners, fax machines, copiers AV equipments, laptops and more. Pick-ups of electronic recycling are coordinated through our Property Control Officer.


A brief description of steps taken to ensure that e-waste is recycled responsibly, workers’ basic safety is protected, and environmental standards are met:

All office electronic equipment is recycled through our Property Control Office.


The website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous and electronic-waste recycling programs is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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