Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.69
Liaison Deborah Steinberg
Submission Date Feb. 7, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Carnegie Mellon University
OP-21: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Rebecca Cicco
Senior Manager, EH&S
EH&S:Environmental Health & Safety and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Services
"---" 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:
Carnegie Mellon University's Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) Office, regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), manages the disposal of all hazardous, universal, and non-RCRA chemical waste. The University conducts regular audits of laboratories to ensure best management practices for the storing, handling, and disposal of hazardous waste. Laboratories are given waste minimization best management practices. Hazardous waste is sent for waste to energy recovery and reclamation.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
Waste generators all receive training on proper management of hazardous. The University maintains a ticketing system so that Primary Investigators can promptly request pickup and disposal of hazardous and universal waste on a regular basis. All hazardous waste is picked up at the point of generation, by trained technicians. They then remove the waste to a central locations for safe storage until shipment off cite. EH&S provides labels and guidance to safely manage hazardous waste in the laboratories. EH&S provides guidance on waste minimization practices.

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:
Carnegie Mellon University uses the Chemtracker Chemical Inventory Management System. Authorized users have access to their chemical inventory to make changes, corrections and updates, prepare inventory reports and obtain safety information on their chemicals, all from this system. The University continues to update its Chemtracker inventory through regular lab audits and working with Primary Investigators to improve their use of the system. The University is also working to improve the restrictions on P-Card purchases, so chemicals purchased are promptly reconciled.

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:
The Environmental Health & Safety Office manages all e-waste recycling efforts. For the University, recyclable e-waste materials include computer monitors & towers, copy & fax machines, all computer peripherals, including covered devices. Requests for pickups are made online, contractors pick up materials at the site of generation. The contractor is audited*** to ensure maximum level of recycling, plus data destruction. Under Pennsylvania's Covered Device Recycling Act, Pennsylvania landfills are prohibited from accepting e-waste.

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:
100 Tons

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
https://www.cmu.edu/ehs/Hazardous-Waste-Management/computers.html

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.