| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 60.77 |
| Liaison | Breeana Sylvas |
| Submission Date | April 15, 2013 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of California, Merced
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
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?:
A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Hazardous waste reduction:
- Discussed in lab safety training (minimize waste, don’t mix waste streams unnecessarily, substitute where possible).
- Oils are recycled (vacuum pump, compressor, etc) through Safety Kleen.
- EHS uses “green” scintillation fluid for radiation wipe tests done quarterly, but we still send it out hazardous waste.
- Unneeded reagent chemicals are redistributed to different labs (usually from the research labs to the teaching labs), or are used by EHS for treatment of other wastes.
- Some wastes are treated (liquid biohazards are reacted with bleach and sent to the sewer, some acids or bases are neutralized then sent to the sewer, wastes such as gloves and test tubes that are not hazardous are placed in the trash, some liquid wastes can be precipitated and solids collected for disposal – liquids going to sewer, water can be evaporated to concentrate waste) Please be careful what you publish here – some of these treatment options require a permit, which we don’t have because we aren’t currently doing them (such as the evaporation).
- Radioactive waste is decayed on site when possible, then thrown in the regular trash when no longer radioactive. (This is only possible for short half-life elements such as P-32 and I-125. We allow them to degrade through 10 half lives, then survey them for radiation. If they have reached background levels, they go in the regular trash.
- Planned project to recycle solvents (again, we may need a permit)
- Containers not full are combined with other compatible waste
- Trying to develop a program to autoclave our non-pathology biohazard waste on campus, it would then be placed in the trash – however the disposal company wants it separated from the regular trash. Could we place yet another bin outside the science building??
- Education regarding what wastes are hazardous, what are not
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Non-radioactive chemical hazardous waste is sent to Clean Harbors.
Radioactive waste is sent to Thomas Grey Associates.
Biohazard waste is sent to Stericycle.
The website URL where information about hazardous materials management is available:
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.