Electronic Waste Management
Overview
Like all colleges and universities, RIT has a need for a large amount of electronic equipment on campus. The electronic equipment used is vital to providing students necessary and unique learning tools as well as ensuring faculty and staff can perform their day to day job functions. However, with ever changing technology RIT must ensure that obsolete, broken, or irreparable electronic equipment is properly managed and recycled.
While there is no standard definition for electronic waste, it includes waste monitors, televisions, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), computer processing units (CPUs), keyboards, mobile phones and all other electronic devices. Proper electronic waste handling is a concern because the heavy metals used in most devices would mean that discarded units would qualify as hazardous waste if not recycled or reused.
Applicable Regulation
Management Requirements
Electronic waste cannot be disposed of in the regular trash and must be managed in accordance with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Rules and Regulations. RIT has chosen to dismantle and recycle electronic waste for scrap metal recovery in an environmentally conscientious manner.
The disposal of campus electronic waste is handled by EWASTE+. They remove, refurbish, re-use, recycle and dispose of electronic waste. A number of electronic waste bins are located on campus and can be used to discard smaller electronic devices. If larger devices need to be removed, please contact your building facility manager or the RIT Environmental Programs Manager.
If electronic waste is found in the regular trash stream the Environmental Health and Safety Office will be notified and the Dean/Division Head of that area will be informed.