Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.21
Liaison Gary Cocke
Submission Date Sept. 11, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

The University of Texas at Dallas
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Gary Cocke
Sustainability Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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:

a.UT Dallas is dedicated to the reduction, proper management, and disposal of all hazardous, special, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste. Since 2016, the University has hired two full-time employees, in addition to on-site vendor support, to closely manage the program. This close management allows for better oversight of waste and the processes that may generate them.

b.A campus-wide Pollution Prevention Plan is in place that covers several of initiatives for source reduction and waste minimization (SR/WM) on campus, including:
i.Tracking waste generated and disposal costs by source to help focus waste minimization activities. The majority of these waste types are generated by laboratories, therefore; a large effort is made to work closely with them. This includes a training system for labs encouraging these SW/WM activities, some of which are detailed below.
ii.Campus-wide recycling efforts, including for facilities buildings and campus apartments. This includes the ongoing project of switching from fluorescent lamps to LED to reduce toxicity of waste and frequency of replacement.
c.All laboratory chemical orders must be reviewed by UT Dallas' Chemical Safety team through UT Dallas' procurement system. This has caught mistakes in ordering (ex. 200 liters ordered versus the intended 20 liters), resulting in less unused chemicals and safer storage conditions on campus. It also alerts the hazardous waste team of any new potential wastes to be generated on campus.

d.UT Dallas also utilizes a Chemical Inventory System (CIS), which inventories and tracks all hazardous chemicals in laboratories. This allows lab members to easily find chemicals that are needed and share chemicals, if needed in small amounts, reducing the chemicals coming onto campus.

e.UT Dallas also has a program to track certain chemicals of concern, which degrade with age. Quarterly, a report containing “expiring” chemicals is managed by the Chemical Safety team and communicated to the relevant labs. This program encourages the chemicals to be used before expiration or increased hazard, reducing the waste generated.

f.The UT Dallas also has an Institutional Biosafety and Chemical Safety Committee (IBCC), which reviews the need and subsequent safe management of particularly hazardous chemicals. This helps address the actual need for certain chemicals to reduce particularly hazardous chemicals on campus.


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

a.All hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste is managed through the University’s hazardous waste team. It is consolidated from campus to a central accumulation area (CAA), where it is inspected, inventoried, and prepared for shipment, all under the appropriate Federal and State regulations. The CAA is locked and under surveillance at all times. The waste is segregated within the building in different rooms, which include secondary containment in the event of a spill. Waste pick-ups from the container storage area are scheduled to occur at a maximum of 90 days form the last pick-up. All wastes are transported to a permitted off-site disposal or recycling facility. Waste collected at the CAA is then shipped off by either our hazardous waste vendor or our universal waste vendor, under oversight by the hazardous waste team. The hazardous waste vendor is on contract through UT System, which ensures that the waste handlers, transporters and disposal facilities have all the required permitting, insurance and are managing the materials properly.

b.The Research & Academic Safety group, including the hazardous waste team, attend annual refresher trainings, including for RCRA, DOT, and HAZWOPER 40-hr. This ongoing professional development ensures highest level of compliance and safety for waste management, and communication to the generators of chemical waste.

c.The majority of hazardous and non-regulated chemical waste is generated from laboratories. Training is provided for all research lab members through an online service, ensuring that everyone has been educated in proper waste handling and generation in the labs from both a regulatory and policy standpoint. In addition, in-person training is provided to other staff and faculty that covers wastes generated in their spaces. This training includes proper storage (ie. closed containers, secondary containment), storage times, accumulation areas, and segregation of incompatible materials. All waste generated in the labs is treated as hazardous until being classified by the waste vendor and UT Dallas staff. Labs request waste pick-ups though an online system, notifying members of the waste management team. Only trained professionals remove waste from the labs and transfer it to the CAA.

d.The hazardous waste team works closely with the Facilities Management (FM) group for any projects that may generate hazardous wastes. An online form is available for non-lab use to allow for the request of chemical or universal waste pickup. The hazardous waste team also participates in the annual FM clean out day to collect any unwanted chemicals. In addition, electricians collect lamps and ballasts centrally at the CAA. Additional programs on campus include battery exchange program in the garage and e-recycling though our FM and Surplus groups.

e.In the last two years, UT Dallas has expanded the battery recycling program to better engage faculty and staff. In order to make battery recycling more convenient for faculty and staff, this new program has placed over 80 used battery collection containers across campus. These containers are picked up semi-annually or by-request. Instructions are provided online and on the containers for safe collection.


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

N/A


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

a. UT Dallas' online Chemical Inventory System allows us to transfer available laboratory chemicals from an individual lab’s inventory to a surplus section. Lab members are already familiar with the system and just need to search in the surplus area. Laboratories can access and review available inventory electronically. This is mostly facilitated through the chemical safety team.

b.The Chemical Surplus Program is overseen by the University’s Chemical Hygiene Officer, chemical safety team, and hazardous waste team, who review submitted chemicals to ensure they are safe for redistribution. There is controlled storage of surplus chemicals, where a chemical must be requested, then delivered to a laboratory by staff. This allows the chemicals to be inspected again and the new space inspected for safe storage.


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

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:

UT Dallas offers a variety of opportunities to recycle personal and University electronics. For personal electronics, the Office of Sustainability, the Office of Student Volunteerism and the UT Dallas Tech Store offer e-waste recycling events throughout the year.

The Office of Information Security also offers a free hard drive and small personal electronics recycling opportunity. Items are shredded and then sent to a third party recycle company.

Electronics purchased by the University go to the campus Surplus for storage, reuse on campus, or for resale. Electronics not suitable for redistribution or resale, such as hard drives, are shredded and provided to a third party recycle company

LED lights and electronic ballasts generated from Facilities Management are managed by our recycler as e-waste. These are collected alongside Universal Waste in the CAA and go through the same process of collection and disposal with our Universal Waste vendor.


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

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:
0.95 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
https://www.utdallas.edu/sustainability/operations/recycling/

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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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.