Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 59.94
Liaison Samuel Crowl
Submission Date Aug. 11, 2021

STARS v2.2

Ohio University
OP-20: Hazardous Waste Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00
"---" 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:
On our Environmental Health and Safety website, http://www.ohio.edu/riskandsafety/ehs/hazmat/chemical.htm, users of chemicals are encourage to minimize amounts purchased. "Frequently chemical suppliers will attempt to sell more chemicals for less, we do not buy surplus chemicals. Surplus chemicals tend to end up in the chemical waste stream at a later date." Also, the university tracks the purchase of extremely hazardous chemicals through an on-campus software called Bobcat Buy and seeks to minimize purchase of future extremely hazardous chemicals.

A brief description of how the institution safely disposes of hazardous, universal, and non-regulated chemical waste:
The University has a policy, Policy 44.104, Disposal of Hazardous Materials, for disposal of hazardous materials at a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility. The Recycling & Refuse department provides e-waste and universal waste collection across campus such as for batteries and compact fluorescent bulbs. Custodial and Zone Maintenance are trained annually on the categories of Universal Waste and get the materials to Campus Recycling through our work order system. Campus Recycling boxes, labels and ships to a third party contractor who reports back data and abides by human and environmental safety standards. Treatment storage and disposal facility

A brief description of any significant hazardous material release incidents during the previous three years, including volume, impact and response/remediation:
There have been no reportable hazardous material release incidents or any incidents which impacted human health or the environment in the past three years.

A brief description of any inventory system employed by the institution to facilitate the reuse or redistribution of laboratory chemicals:
No

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:
All used electronics and equipment generated from on campus staff, faculty and operations is processed through our surplus dept. for repurposing on campus or for resale. Items deemed unsuitable for re-sale are processed through Campus Recycling with a third party partner who is both R2 and E-Steward certified. Additionally 30+ E-waste collection cabinets are located across campus for easy recycling of small electronic waste. Students and off-campus community members are provided two centralized and supervised drop off locations for larger items at no charge. Additionally we host annual community, staff and faculty recycling events that include E-Waste as a category of recovery.

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:
http://www.ohio.edu/policy/44-104.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
http://www.ohio.edu/riskandsafety/ehs/hazmat/chemical.htm (Environmental Health & Safety)
http://www.ohio.edu/policy/55-031.html (Purchasing policy for hazardous waste)
http://www.ohio.edu/facilities/recycle/erecycling.htm (Recycling & Refuse e-cycling webpage)

Part 1 provided by Brent Mattox on 2/27/2020. Entered by Sydney Hutchinson on 3/30/2020.

Part 2 privded by Andrew Ladd, Recycling and Zero Waste Manager, on 4/7/2020

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.