Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 76.52
Liaison Maria Kirrane
Submission Date July 28, 2022

STARS v2.2

University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Gavin Douglas
Waste management
Waste Management Solutions
"---" 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:
UCC has commenced a Green Labs trial where research facilities across the university are trialling the My Green Lab methodology and LEAF methodology. This lab greening processes include documentation of chemical use and inventories, assessing waste generation and behavioural practises.

Audits and all old or redundant chemicals are disposed of responsibly.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Service of specialist waste disposal contractors Ocon Chemicals. Documentation and licensed facilities for Safe use and disposal of potentially hazardous materials.

Published Guidance and Policy Documents for Hazardous Waste:

Guidelines for Management of Lab Waste
https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/support/healthandsafety/documents/wm-scidocs-apx/Guidlines-for-Management-of-Lab-Wastes.doc

Departmental Safety Manuals address safe disposal of hazardous waste. e.g. chemicals should not be disposed of down the sink.
https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/academic/biomedicalscience/biochemistry/documents/healthsafety/SAFETYMANUAL2020-2021-(CPB).pdf

UCC Policy on Disposal of Biological Agents
https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/research/researchatucc/policiesdocuments/UCCbiologicalwastepolicy280918(PDF).pdf

UCC Ionising Radiation Code of Practise including disposal.
https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/support/radiationprotectionoffice/Code_of_Practice_Ionizing_Radiation_2017.pdf

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
No significant release of any hazardous materials during the period.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
Within departments laboratories share resources based on local agreements - e.g. chemistry uses LabCup programme to inventory chemicals.

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:
Bring to sites for WEEE waste. Trollies are provided at various points around campus in order to safely collect WEEE items. These are in turn exchanged when full and sent for Recycling and Recovery in a licensed facility.

Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Yes

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous waste program is available:
http://greencampus.ucc.ie/recycling-waste-management/

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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