Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 68.42
Liaison Austin Sutherland
Submission Date Feb. 18, 2025

STARS v2.2

University of Pennsylvania
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00
"---" 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:

The University is required by Federal and State regulations to develop and implement a Waste Minimization Strategy. Ways to help achieve the goal of reducing the volume of chemical waste generated on campus include but are not limited to: 1. Practice the concept of Source Reduction by simply ordering the smallest quantity of chemical materials required for your research. 2. Keep an inventory of chemicals in your lab. 3. Share surplus chemical with other labs. 4. Purchase mercury-free instruments. 5. Substitute hazardous chemicals with non-hazardous chemicals whenever possible. 6. Reduce the scale of laboratory experiments to reduce the volume of waste being produced whenever possible.

Penn's Office of Environmental Health and Radiation Safety (EHRS) centrally regulates the management and disposal of chemicals and other hazardous materials on campus. Among other issues, EHRS provides guidance on bio-safety in labs and research departments, maintains a Chemical Inventory of all hazardous chemicals on campus, and provides instructions on the use of piranha gas-producing solutions. EHRS also manages the storage and safe removal of universal waste, including mercury-containing materials (such as certain devices and lamps), batteries, and compact fluorescent bulbs. Disposal is only by state-approved and licensed vendors, the list of which is maintained by EHRS.

Chemical Waste webpage: https://ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safety/regulated-waste/chemical-waste

Biohazardous Waste webpage: https://ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safety/regulated-waste/biohazardous-waste 


A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:

Penn has a waste plan for the disposal of wastes produced in labs/research facilities, and resulting from institutional operations. Various chemical waste receptacles and supplies are provided to collect wastes prior to removal by EHRS. Wastes are aggregated and stored on sites in compliance with all applicable laws and best practices to efficiently manage wastes per required and instution-mandated parameters. Contracted treatment facilities receive and process wastes solely within the continental United States utilizing waste-to-energy as the preferred treatment method in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. Penn has strict rules for the disposal of universal waste and radioactive waste as well, managed by the Office of Environmental Health and Radiation Safety.

Chemical Waste webpage: https://ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safety/regulated-waste/chemical-waste

Biohazardous Waste webpage: https://ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safety/regulated-waste/biohazardous-waste 


A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:

There have not been any hazardous material release incidents.


A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:

The Office of Environmental Health and Radiation Safety (EHRS) offers University laboratories access to chemical inventory software to help Penn research faculty manage their chemical storage. The inventory system greatly improves the ability of individual laboratories to efficiently manage the purchase of hazardous chemicals and reduce the University's hazardous waste stream. All laboratories with hazardous chemicals are required to participate in the chemical inventory program. The inventory system greatly improves the ability of individual laboratories to efficiently manage the purchase of hazardous chemicals and reduce the University's hazardous waste stream. ChemTracker Chemical Inventory Module is a high-performance, relational database system for tracking chemicals and other laboratory supplies. The platform is a hosted, cloud-based solution and is completely web-based.

Webpage: https://ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safety/lab-safety/chemical-inventory-program 


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:
The University has two preferred vendor contracts with two e-waste recyclers, E-Force and Elemental. To become a preferred e-waste vendor, vendors must be certified under e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards. Both of these firms were fully vetted with support from Penn’s Department of Environmental Health and Radiation Safety to ensure environmental standards are met. In addition, as of 2017, each vendor provides reporting to the Penn Sustainability Office on the amount of electronic waste removed from the campus. Electronic waste is collected at several disposal sites on campus and is also collected during a two e-waste drive, once in the fall during Climate Week and once during the spring during Energy Week and/or Earth Week. These drives are managed by campus departments, including Central IT, Penn Dental, School of Arts and Sciences, or other volunteer departments. 
 
Additional information on Computer & Electronics Recycling and Disposal Options can found at: https://ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safety/regulated-waste/computer-electronics-recycling-and-disposal-options.
 
Specialty Recycling Collections locations, including e-waste, can be found on our map resources at: https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/resources/specialty-recycling-collections-map.

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:
https://ehrs.upenn.edu/health-safety/regulated-waste

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.