Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 48.07
Liaison Tony Gillund
Submission Date May 9, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

The Ohio State University at Lima
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Tom Novotny
Director Environmental Affairs
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:

At Ohio State Lima, we recycle batteries, lamps, ballasts, and waste oil to vendors. Chemicals from Facilities go to a vendor once a year via Columbus EHS.

Ohio State Lima is guided by the OSU Main Campus Environmental, Health & Safety department. Ohio State's Office of Environmental Health and Safety assists the university community in providing and maintaining a safe, healthful work environment for students, faculty, staff, contractors, and visitors. The EHS mission also encompasses responsibilities of protecting the local community and environment from potential hazards generated by university activities. Environmental Affairs personnel provide on-site consultation to faculty, staff and students in order to help the customer in the process of the determination and subsequent management of any hazardous chemical waste they might generate. These personnel lead the customer through the myriad of regulations to facilitate the proper and safe handling, packaging, and disposal of hazardous chemical wastes. In addition, the Chemical Management Guidebook was published and distributed to laboratories and other facilities throughout campus. The guidebook contains detailed information on all aspects of chemical and infectious waste generation and disposal.


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

The Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) has a Hazardous Waste program that manages the various types of wastes (i.e., chemical, Universal, infectious, and electronic equipment) in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations. All hazardous waste chemicals (i.e., regulated and non-regulated), Universal Waste, and infectious waste is picked up on a request basis from generators by EHS Hazardous Waste staff and stored at secured locations until they are picked up by licensed contractors. Most chemical wastes are disposed of by incineration or waste water treatment. Whenever possible, chemical wastes are recycled and re-used for beneficial purposes. All Universal Waste (i.e., lamps, batteries, and ballasts) are recycled. Electronic equipment waste is either reconditioned for re-use or recycled. The University receives manifests and other documents to show proof of proper disposal.


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:

Both EHS and the University Chemistry Department operate chemical redistribution programs for laboratories to re-use and/or share unused chemicals instead of disposing of them. Our campus is very small so we do not have a formal system for redistribution of chemicals. Only chemistry and biology have chemicals. Biology has very, very few. Whenever biology wants to get rid of any chemicals, we contact the chemistry department to see if it is something chemistry can use. If they do not want it, it is shipped to Columbus to be redistributed or sent to chemical waste. We do have inventories of chemicals for both biology and chemistry that are available to anyone who needs a chemical on our campus. The inventories can be checked to see if it is something already on campus or needs to be ordered. The inventories are in hard copy stored in the chemical safety and inventory library (Room 374 Lima Life and Physical Sciences Building).


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 electronic waste is gathered by Technology Services and sent to OSU Surplus in Columbus for recycling and resale. Student Life provides opportunities for students to properly dispose or recycle electronics during move out at the end of the school year.


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:
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.