Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 46.18
Liaison Suzanne Wood
Submission Date April 3, 2020
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

UMass Chan Medical School
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Suzanne Wood
Sustainability & Energy Manager
Facilities Managment
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1 

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:
The Environmental Health and Safety Department makes several efforts to help reduce hazardous, universal and non-regulated waste. The Hazardous Waste Minimization Guideline is found in the Umass Medical School Safety Manual. This Guideline emphasizes purchasing and using smaller quantities, substituting for less hazardous chemicals, encouraging laboratories to give unopened chemicals that are no longer needed to labs that can use them. EH&S also maintains a chemical inventory system which include an area for surplus chemical to encourage reuse instead of disposal. Another step the university takes is to exchange mercury thermometers with alcohol thermometers to reduce the number of mercury thermometer in the labs.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Umass Medical School's Disposal of Chemical Waste Procedure covers the disposal of chemical waste in the laboratories. The hazardous waste is removed from Satellite Accumulation Areas by EH&S personnel and moved to a Central Accumulation Area. The waste is transported by a vendor to designated treatment, storage and disposal facilities. The waste is tracked cradle to grave using Hazardous Waste Manifests and Bill of Ladings.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
No hazardous material incidents occurred in the past 3 years which required reporting to MassDEP.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
The University has implemented a Chemical Environmental Management System. A component of this Management System is a feature where labs can post unused chemicals they no longer need for reuse by other laboratories.

Part 2 

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:
Electronic waste is collected at the loading dock for recycling through Northeast Material. Employee recycling events are conducted approximately biannually for employee/students to recycling electronic through E.L. Harvey.

Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
No

Optional Fields 

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:
40.50 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives 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.