Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 73.28
Liaison Katie Maynard
Submission Date Nov. 8, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of California, Santa Barbara
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Jewel Snavely
Campus Sustainability Coordinator, TGIF Grants Manager
Office of Sustainability
"---" 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 University of California, Santa Barbara reduces hazardous waste through its Environmental Health & Safety department (EH&S). EH&S produces a Hazardous Waste Minimization Plan and offers educational courses on hazardous waste to staff and faculty. EH&S also actively promotes the re-use of hazardous chemicals within departments and on campus.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
UCSB's EH&S is responsible for properly disposing hazardous waste in compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. The EH&S website provides information for faculty, staff, and students about who to contact when hazardous waste is an issue. It also provides pickup and cleanup services for chemicals and other hazardous materials in order to ensure their proper disposal.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
There have been no significant reports of a hazardous material release in the previous three years.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
Since approximately 2008, the University of California, Santa Barbara has managed a Surplus Chemical Exchange Inventory that notes the availability of unused or excess chemicals. The Chemical Exchange Program encourages recirculating chemicals within departments and campus-wide. The Surplus Chemical Program reduces chemical waste streams and saves money. Chemical use is essential to the operations of many laboratories on campus, making chemicals an important resource to protect. Recipients of reagents can be confident of chemical quality and purity when accepting chemicals screened and logged by EH&S and will avert significant energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from chemical manufacturing.

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:
UCSB's Environmental Health & Safety Department provides proper e-waste recycling in accordance with The California Department of Toxic Substances Control. EH&S first requires that a useless electronic device is claimed as a "Universal Waste - CRT or Electronic Device" and then sends it to the Central Stores - Furniture Services department that will sell, reuse, or properly recycle the device. EH& S E-Waste Information: http://www.ehs.ucsb.edu/units/hw/hwrsc/hwpdf/ewastepdf.pdf

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

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:
70.52 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.ehs.ucsb.edu/units/hw/hw.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
UCSB's Electronic waster recycler is Electronic Recyclers International which is both e-stewards and R2 certified.

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.