Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.89
Liaison Marian Brown
Submission Date Dec. 13, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Wells College
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Marian Brown
Director
Center for Sustainability and the Environment
"---" 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:
The campus is actively seeking to phase out fluorescent lighting in favor of LED lighting, reducing the most substantial component of our universal waste. The college is being more mindful of the waste disposal impacts of certain products, so actively seeks more environmentally-friendly and non-toxic cleaners and building care products. Professors in the Chemistry Department have attended workshops on “Green Chemistry” where they learned experiments to teach the students which use less hazardous chemicals.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Wells makes provisions for onsite collection of hazardous, universal and non-regulated chemical waste. The College contracts for safe transport and appropriate disposal of hazardous waste, universal waste, and non-regulated chemical waste. The campus Environmental Health & Safety Officer is housed in our science building, Stratton Hall; inside that facility, the College which maintains a separate, secure room for collection of hazardous materials and chemical wastes until the time of contracted removal and proper disposal. Wells College has hazardous waste picked up by Clean Harbors. Collected used fluorescent tubes are picked up by Safety-Kleen or small screw-in fluorescent lamps are collected for proper recycling by the Wells College Center for Sustainability and the Environment. Universal waste materials, especially fluorescent tubes, are collected and safely stored in secure areas in various locations on campus until sufficient quantities are generated to merit contracted transport and safe disposal. The college maintains battery collection containers and transports any potentially hazardous batteries to special regional collection centers for proper disposal.

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
According to Cheryl Lewkowicz, the College Environmental Health and Safety officer, Wells has not experienced any such incidents in recent years.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
The Chemistry, Biology and Environmental Science departments have a joint inventory of all chemicals kept in the science building. This inventory spreadsheet is kept by the science building's Lab Manager and is available to all faculty in the building.

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:
Information Technology maintains an e-waste collection container for such materials generated in offices and science labs, but also accepts e-waste generated by students. In addition, any electronic e-waste collected during the Trash2Treasure moveout collection or throughout the year from students or employees depositing such items in either the Bargain Basement or RUMPUS Room are diverted to ITs e-waste collection.

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:
1 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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