| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.91 |
| Liaison | Elizabeth MacKenzie |
| Submission Date | June 25, 2024 |
University of Iowa
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.75 / 1.00 |
Brinda
Shetty Program Manager Office of Sustainability and the Environment |
Part 1. Hazardous waste minimization and disposal
A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
The University of Iowa Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHS) advises departments that typically generate hazardous waste, universal waste batteries, universal waste mercury-containing equipment, and non-hazardous chemical waste of strategies for reducing the amount of such wastes. (Note: EHS provides some information on these strategies via training programs, waste management manuals and newsletters, but departments implement their own strategies.)
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Each waste item collected by EHS is assigned a serial number, tagged, and tracked using a database. This allows EHS to follow the course of waste through the storage, management, and disposal process. Hazardous waste is stored in barrels, cabinets, or shelves in a storage facility located on the UI Research Campus. Subsequently, a contractor is hired to pack and ship waste to a RCRA permitted commercial disposal site for treatment and disposal. All records required by the University’s RCRA permit are maintained at the UI facilities.
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:
The University of Iowa uses OnSite’s Chemical Safety Assistant (EHSA). The web-based system can be directly accessed by primary chemical owners at the department or laboratory level. At this level, chemical owners can manage their individual chemical inventories and create simple reports. The system provides the institution with the capability to provide chemical data to emergency response agencies when needed. EHS uses the system internally to assist with state and federal chemical regulatory reporting. Inventory reports can be generated based on individual or building-wide inventories. Custom reports can be developed with the assistance of the software provider. In addition, UI EHS annually reviews each Primary Investigator’s research area to assess the current status of his or her safety program and seeks to identify additional resources to assist the research community in implementing safe practices and compliance-based programs that are required by the University, state and/or federal regulations. Chemicals that are no longer needed in a laboratory are offered for reuse by other laboratories, when appropriate. Though the inventory system is not directly used for redistribution, its maintenance facilitates the redistribution of surpluses between labs.
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 students?:
If yes to either of the above, provide:
Departments submit a request for e-waste to be picked up from their location. Surplus will pick up those items and return them to the surplus department. If the item contains any type of a hard drive the said hard drive will be removed and wiped or shredded at our facility. For computers or tablets and other devices with a value will be placed on our online auction platform and sold to the highest bidder. For those items that do not sell or are broken will be sent to Midwest Recycle.
Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The University of Iowa, through its Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and its operational units, collects hazardous waste, universal waste batteries, universal waste mercury containing equipment, and non-hazardous chemical waste from the point of generation and transports, stores, and ensures proper disposal of these wastes as required by federal, state and local regulations. Special waste, including coal ash from the Power Plant and lime sludge, sediment tank and water treatment by-products from University Water Plant, are handled through an Iowa Department of Natural Resources permitted beneficial-use designation. Most water treatment by-products are used in local agricultural applications. Florescent tubes/lamps covered by Universal Waste are collected by General Stores and departmental operational units.
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.