Environmental Health & Safety

Recycling and Waste Reduction UTK Environmental Health & Safety Guide EC-020

This guide describe the program operationally managed by Recycling in Facilities Services.

Effective Date: 01/01/2009

Revision Date: 11/01/2016

Purpose, Applicability, and Scope

Purpose – The purpose of this document is to provide guidance for recycling and waste reduction.

Applicability – This shall apply to all students, staff and faculty on the main campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This plan also applies, where applicable, to operational aspects in facilities leased by UT.

Abbreviations and Definitions

Abbreviations

EHS: Environmental Health and Safety Definitions

Orphaned chemicals – chemicals that are deemed surplus, generated mostly by research activities, still have value, and may be transferred to another researcher.

Techno Trash – diskettes, CD’s, DVD’s, cell phones, PDAs, pagers, digital cameras, handheld games, CD players, and MP3 players

Roles and Responsibilities

Employees and Students shall:

Identify item under their control that can be recycled
Participate in the recycling program
Make suggestions for process improvements to the Recycling Coordinator
Actively seek to reduce waste generation Recycling Coordinator shall:

Recycling Coordinator shall:

Make recycling containers available to university facilities
Serve as the point of contact for contractors who remove recycled materials
Encourage recycling and waste reduction in departments
Disseminate information regarding recycling and waste reduction opportunities and outcomes to the university community
Collect and tabulate data regarding recycling and waste reduction

Procedure

Materials that are recycled include:

Lamps and ballasts (including fluorescent, HID of various types, LED, compact fluorescent, and others) by Facilities Services
Rechargeable batteries by Facilities Services
Metals (lead, copper, cast iron, etc) generated by construction and renovation projects by Facilities Services
Orphaned laboratory chemicals by EHS
Cardboard by Facilities Services
Aluminum cans by Facilities Services
Steel cans (food cans) by Facilities Services

Steel aerosol containers by Facilities Services and EHS
Waste cooking oil by Aramark
Tires by Motor Pool
Anti-freeze by Motor Pool/Knox County
Electronic waste by Facilities Services
Printer cartridges by Facilities Services
Plastic containers numbered 1-7 by Facilities Services
Mixed Paper of all types by Facilities Services
Techno-trash by Facilities Services
Green waste by Facilities Services
Shrink Wrap by Facilities Services
Pre-consumer food waste and coffee grounds by Facilities Services
Wooden pallets by Facilities Services
Carpet by Housing and Facilities Services
Clothing and Household Items by Facilities Services/Goodwill Industries
Non-perishable food by Facilities Services/ 2nd Harvest Food Bank

The recycling coordinator shall work with departments on campus to recycle materials that fall under the purview of Facilities Services that are listed above.

Record Keeping and Data Analysis

Records shall be kept on the amount of waste that is recycled by Facilities Services on an annual basis.

Other departments that conduct recycling activities are encouraged to submit data to the Facilities Services Recycling Coordinator.

Summary data of recycling efforts is submitted to: The Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration

Training and Information

Information regarding recycling is disseminated to the university community periodically via UT media outlets.

Information regarding recycling is available at: http://recycle.utk.edu/

Regulatory Drivers and References

None

Disclaimer

The information provided in these guidelines is designed for educational use only and is not a substitute for specific training or experience.

The University of Tennessee Knoxville and the authors of these guidelines assume no liability for any individual’s use of or reliance upon any material contained or referenced herein. The material contained in these guidelines may not be the most current.

This material may be freely distributed for nonprofit educational use. However, if included in publications, written or electronic, attributions must be made to the author. Commercial use of this material is prohibited without express written permission from the author.

Appendices

EC-020 Recycling and Waste Reduction Program (downloadable pdf)