University of Washington, Seattle
OP-25: Hazardous Waste Management

The University of Washington has the Environment Health & Safety department, which handles the different types of wastes mentioned in this credit. http://www.ehs.washington.edu/epowaste/index.shtm

The UW Environment Health & Safety department's mission is to educate the staff at the UW to handle hazardous waste, as mentioned in the mission statement below. "To support the University of Washington’s teaching, research, and service missions, the Environmental Health and Safety Department assists organizational units in meeting their responsibility to protect the environment and to provide a safe and healthful place of employment and learning." EH&S collects hazardous chemical waste from all UW owned and operated facilities. This service is covered by overhead on research grants. Guidance on waste collections can be found at the following link: http://www.ehs.washington.edu/epowaste/chemwaste.shtm All hazardous waste at the University of Washington that is not reused, recycled or treated is sent to permitted hazardous waste recycling and disposal facilities. The waste streams listed will be incinerated at high temperature. Detailed information chemical waste management can be found at the following link: http://www.ehs.washington.edu/manuals/lsm/lsm3.pdf http://www.ehs.washington.edu/pso/mission.shtm

The University of Washington has not had any significant hazardous materials releases in the previous three years.

The MyChem Chemical Exchange is an online system that allows you to quickly search for surplus chemicals and advertise your own usable surplus chemicals. This can save labs money and reduces hazardous waste. In fact, one study found that unwanted chemicals account for up to 40% of all hazardous waste at universities.

All items purchased with University monies or given to the University that are no longer needed by a department whether they are in working or non-working condition, must be transferred to UW Surplus for resale, recycling, or disposal. UW Surplus is a self-sustaining department. It receives no direct state funding and must generate revenue to cover all costs. UW Surplus revenue is generated through sales of items transferred from departments.

At the UW, electronics recycling includes computers, monitors, and peripherals. Electronics in working and non-working condition that are no longer needed by a department are transferred to UW Surplus for resale or proper recycling. All electronics that cannot be resold are recycled by the University’s electronics vendor, Total Reclaim, a local electronics recycler that recently successfully completed the rigorous process of becoming an ISO 14001:2004 certified organization. In fact Total Reclaim has a long-established track record of sound environmental management of electronic waste. In 2003, Total Reclaim became an original signatory of the Basil Action Network’s Electronic Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship (www.ban.org). BAN is a not-for-profit organization that works to prevent the export of hazardous waste and toxic chemicals to developing countries. In 2009, Total Reclaim was certified by a third party auditor as a Preferred Processor of Electronics for the E-Cycle Washington electronics recycling program (www.ecyclewashington.org). Total Reclaim currently processes tens of millions of pounds of unwanted electronics each year for this program.