| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 55.44 |
| Liaison | Bradley Flamm |
| Submission Date | March 4, 2022 |
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Bradley
Flamm Director of Sustainability Office of the President |
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:
In effort to minimize the amount of hazardous, biohazardous/infectious, radioactive, universal, and specialty waste on campus, WCU takes multiple actions to reduce the amount of waste generated on campus. A few examples of steps taken to reduce waste are trainings, scheduling frequent pick-ups, education of chemical purchasing and waste reduction, transitioning to LED lighting, chemical substitution in facilities and research laboratories etc.
A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Certified vendors are contracted to properly dispose of hazardous, biohazardous/infectious, radioactive, universal, and specialty wastes generated on campus. Our campus utilizes a standalone, explosive proof Chemical Waste Storage Building to store hazardous, biological and radioactive waste until pickup. The Chemical Storage Building is maintained through inspections, wastes are segregated and WCU's Radiation Safety Officer provides support for proper waste disposal of radioactive material. Universal waste is generated less frequently and stored in a separate facility on campus.
A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
No significant releases occurred.
A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
Faculty members on campus are asked to submit a Hazardous Substance Inventory to EHS which will then post these inventories where they can be accessible in each facility. When a professor retires, their chemicals get evaluated for safety, usefulness and age to see if they can be used by another professor and put back into stock rooms to minimize waste.
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:
A certified vendors is contracted by EHS to properly dispose of university owned e-wastes (computers, printers, TVs, and similar items). Pennsylvania Commonwealth Procurement Regulations do not allow state funds to be used to dispose of student personal e-waste items. University owned e-Waste is collected by Facilities and IT employees and transported to a central storage facility. Facilities and EHS Dept contract separately with vendors for e-waste recycling of the items under their responsibility.
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:
Data Provided by: Nicole Svetz, EHS Specialist (nsvetz@wcupa.edu)
Data Entry: Lois Howell, 17-Dec-21
Data Provided by: Nicole Svetz, EHS Specialist (nsvetz@wcupa.edu)
Data Entry: Lois Howell, 17-Dec-21
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.