Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.64
Liaison Casey Meehan
Submission Date Dec. 22, 2020

STARS v2.2

Western Technical College
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Casey Meehan
Director of Sustainability and Resilience
Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Hazardous waste minimization and disposal

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:
Western is considered by the EPA as a "very small generator." Very few chemicals are kept on campus. For instance, Western does not do its own lawn care, therefore, there is no need for us to store insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
All hazardous wastes are tract and collected by the Physical Plant. Western Technical College works with the company Stericycle in order to remove Bio-hazardous wastes safely. These wastes are removed four times a year. In the same and environmental responsible disposing of other hazardous wastes Western employs the company Veolia. These wastes are removed by Veolia on a need based schedule.

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:
Western uses MSDS Online as an inventory system for lab chemicals. Laboratory hazardous waste is often picked up about once every 2 years. Copper and a few other heavy metals are reused in our chemistry lab.

Part 2. Electronic waste diversion

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:
Computer Services refurbishes computers and offers them to students, staff and the public at a reduced rate to provide good quality computers at reasonable prices. Computer Services makes about 135K per year which is used to offset new costs, and anything that we do not sell is recycled either locally through Dynamic Recycling and Prodigy or with an out of state firm so as not to have anything end up in a landfill.

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

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s hazardous waste program 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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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.