Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.12
Liaison Maria Dahmus
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of St. Thomas
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Colin Brownlow
Director of Environmental Health and Safety
Facilities Management
"---" 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 has set conservative criteria for the identification of hazardous waste to prevent classification of non-hazardous materials of hazardous waste. We have set maximum retention times for laboratory hazardous materials to prevent usable materials ageing out and needing hazardous waste disposal. Most universal wastes are diverted to recycling programs.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
The university has a comprehensive program for the management, storage and disposal of hazardous, universal and non-regulated chemical waste. The program is managed by the university's environmental health and safety department.  The university contracts with a licensed hazardous waste disposal contractor - Clean Harbors - to transport and dispose of our hazardous and most universal waste. A copy of our hazardous waste program is included in the additional documentation section.

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 has a barcode based records system for all laboratory chemicals that facilitates tracking and inter-laboratory trading of chemicals, which helps to minimize the quantity of materials ultimately needing disposal.

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:
There are four specialized recycling stations around the University of St. Thomas campus where electronic waste is collected. The main collection location for e-waste is located at the Waste and Recovery location in FDC. Electronic waste is picked up by an outside vendor and Certificates of Recycling are provided. The University provides communications about e-waste. The University works with an outsider vendor, Recycle Technologies Inc., to dispose of electronic waste. Recycle Technologies is actively working towards achieving R2 certification.

Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
No

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous waste program is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The University's Hazardous Waste Safety Training Manual is available under additional documentation to support 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.