Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 56.08
Liaison Katherine Straub
Submission Date Aug. 21, 2020

STARS v2.2

Susquehanna University
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Chris Bailey
Director of Facilities
Facilities
"---" 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:
In general instructors try to generate as little waste as they can. Chemistry labs work on small scales as much as possible. Students are instructed to take specific amounts of reagents and chemicals in protocols to limit waste as much as possible. Limited amounts of reagents are placed out for use in labs so students will not take more than is necessary and therefore have to pour leftover chemicals into waste.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
The University Chemical Hygiene Plan encourages faculty and staff to minimize the use of hazardous chemicals when at all possible in research and teaching. The Laboratory Coordinator also actively encourage making changes to teaching labs and procedures to minimize hazardous chemical usage when ever possible. Instructors should characterize their waste (we have a form for that) to determine how it should be disposed of. A system has been established for waste collection, documentation of waste content, labeling of waste and it’s storage. Hazardous waste from the sciences is removed by one of those three vendors twice during the academic year. Non-regulated chemical waste goes into the drains and into the municipal trash if does not need to be collected as hazardous waste. Some wastes are collected even if they are not on a Hazardous list due to possible environmental toxicity/carcinogenity etc based on Safety Data Sheet information.

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:
Chemistry uses a shared inventory list try to prevent over ordering. I will “share” chemicals between departments on a small scale rather than order more to be kept separately and possibly not used.

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:
The university currently works with the Snyder County waste office to participate in their e-waste recycling program.

SU allows student to dispose of their e-waste with the university’s waste for a nominal charge.

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:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.