Cardinal Green Labs Launches Voluntary Lab Recycling Program

Many items used in laboratories can be recycled, including cardboard, paper, metal, and certain uncontaminated glass and plastics. However, most labs don’t have easy access to recycling bins. In response, Cardinal Green Labs partnered with E&K Scientific, a local vendor of research supplies, to launch a voluntary lab recycling program. The program provides free recycling bins so that labs can sort their waste right at the source. Lab members empty the bins into the closest building recycling receptacle when full. The program is estimated to keep 600 pounds of waste out of the landfill per bin provided.

Disposable gloves are ubiquitous in labs but cannot be recycled in the regular recycling stream. In response, Cardinal Green Labs also piloted a separate program for lab gloves in two School of Medicine buildings: Lokey Stem Cell and Medical School Lab Surge. The program provides a bucket for used glove collection in the lab; buckets are emptied into a central building bin when full. The building bin is serviced by the Environmental Health & Safety Department, which ships crates of gloves to TerraCycle, a company that recycles them into plastic patio furniture.