| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 73.99 |
| Liaison | Mary-Lee Townsend |
| Submission Date | Oct. 20, 2021 |
Western University
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 1.00 |
Mary-Lee
Townsend Sustainability & Compliance Manager Sustainability Office |
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?:
A brief description of steps taken to reduce hazardous, special (e.g. coal ash), universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Occupational Health and Safety is accountable for ensuring a healthy and safe work environment through effective risk management. Occupational Health and Safety has chosen RPR Environmental to handle the waste collection program at Western. RPR Environmental provides Western with the services of technical and environmental specialists who provide a unique, hands-on approach to waste management. Users of the service have their hazardous waste (chemical, biological and radioactive) picked up weekly on Thursdays at designated loading docks across campus.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
When handling materials that require special attention, Western follows legislation imposed by the municipal, provincial and federal governments.
Western is currently using RPR Environmental (Responsible Chemical Waste Management) to deal with their hazardous waste. This company strives to be the leader in responsible waste management, while working with government, legal, risk management, health and safety and other professionals to ensure that all legal obligations of this industry are met.
At Western, all types of hazardous materials are collected once a week and accepted for disposal free of charge, provided that they meet the requirements outlined in the "Hazardous Materials Management Handbook".
http://www.uwo.ca/hr/form_doc/health_safety/doc/manuals/hazardous_handbook.pdf
Some of these requirements include:
- All containers in a laboratory must be completely labeled (responsibility of the individual laboratory or department).
- All hazardous waste containers must be packaged to ensure that the material cannot spill in the case of an accident.
- All labs are required to keep an inventory and labeling system in order to ensure hazardous materials are being managed effectively and safely. If not, this provides an opportunity to segregate according to their respective hazard classes.
- For safety and transportation reasons, Western’s chemical waste contractor does not accept any unidentified substances at any time. If identification of the "unknown" cannot be made, then a characterization of the waste based on physical and chemical properties is required prior to acceptance of the material by the chemical waste contractor.
- Disposal of all radioactive wastes must be in accordance with regulations under the NSC Act. Waste must be handled and disposed of in a way that prevents unreasonable risk to the public or the environment.
A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
No significant hazardous material release incidents have occurred at Western in the past three years.
A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
Occupational Health and Safety is committed to helping manage and reduce the risk associated with working with hazardous materials. With governmental safety standards regarding the management of these materials continuously changing, the University has implemented an online chemical inventory system, HECHMET (Higher Education Cooperative for Hazardous Materials and Equipment Tracking), in order to comply with these changes and to make future adjustments more effortless.
HECHMET is an online database currently being used by Western to create a university-wide chemical inventory. This central chemical inventory has the capability to:
Provide an inventory with real time updates and changes
Avoids unnecessary repurchasing of chemicals
Allows for intra/inter-departmental collaboration of chemicals
Save time by assisting researchers to quickly locate chemicals
Assess the present chemical hazards in a given lab and around campus
Produce convenient and accessible reports for emergency response teams
Eliminate risks by awareness of potential hazards
Provide unique information about each chemical
i.e. chemical & physical properties, storage location, expiration date and SDS information via the ChemWatch link
No longer a need for physical copies of SDS in labs
Monitor compliance
Determine which chemicals are outdated and should be disposed of
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by the institution?:
Does the institution have or participate in a program to responsibly recycle, reuse, and/or refurbish electronic waste generated by students?:
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:
Electronic waste is generated at each of our faculties and supporting units. All electronic equipment is considered the property of Western University, and as such, we ensure that any and all equipment is properly recycled. We have placed e-waste bins in most buildings on campus, where staff and faculty can drop their electronic waste. We work with an E-Waste Processor who is responsible for picking up items for recycling every week.
Students can recycle electronics in some bins on campus, and we usually host an e-waste drive to recycle electronics at move-out, during the end of the academic year.
Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
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 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.