Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 49.94
Liaison Jane Stewart
Submission Date March 3, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Washington and Lee University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Paul Burns
Environmental Health and Safety Director
Safety Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1 

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:
Steps have been taken to reduce on site inventory of materials and to adjust quantities purchased to limit the total amount of materials on campus. Professors have moved to smaller scale student lab set ups and reduced the amount of student exposure to chemicals.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
All of our hazardous waste is disposed of by a licensed disposal contractor. The chemistry department does a small amount of recycling by using student generated compounds as "secondary components" in multi component unknowns. When other lab departments have unused chemicals that they no longer want, they reuse them within the department. Our largest environmentally responsible effort a few years ago, was transitioning from macro scale to micro scale experiments. We generate significantly less waste since we did that.

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:
Our reuse and redistribution efforts are not currently inventoried.

Part 2 

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:
We work with Computer Recycling of Virginia - A non-profit VA based organization - "Reuse, refurbishment, and recycling has enabled CRVA to donate over 20,000 pieces of equipment to Virginia Schools, non-profits, and youth programs. Over 14,000 tons of e-Waste has been diverted from Virginia's landfills helping our children, and protecting the environment".

Is the institution’s electronic waste recycler certified under the e-Stewards and/or Responsible Recycling (R2) standards?:
Yes

Optional Fields 

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:
6.78 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.recycle4va.com/Home.php

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.