[labnetwork] Inquiry about any disposable glove recycling programs currently implemented by any labs

[Tatiana Pinedo Rivera]

Dear Rachel,

Sorry I do not have an answer for you. But we at the Melbourne Centre for
Nanofabrication, one of the Australian National
Fabrication Facility centres are extremely interested in setting up a
similar program. We have a quite active Green Impact Team and we have been
trying to make our cleanroom slightly less wasteful (for instance, we are
encouraging reuse of epaks and wafer/sample carriers where possible (they
were previously all going to the bin after one use), we are also collecting
Silicon waste for the first time (previously it was all going to the
landfill)).

We recently started to collect our lab (packaging) soft plastic waste but
the University we are affiliated to (Monash University) can only collect
soft-plastic (LDPE) of very high quality, uncontaminated, not-dyed (only
transparent), it should be slightly stretchable before it rips and should
not make a crinkly noise when scrunched, no tape, no labels...

For our "domestic" soft-plastic collection, which we also started
collecting in the kitchen area, rules are much more flexible and thankfully
we in Australia have the RedCycle program which collects all sorts of soft
plastics from plastic bags to candy and chips wrappers. I wonder whether
they might be able to help.

Ideally we would like to start collecting our disposable cleanroom
overshoes which are made out of a crinkly blue plastic and gloves, similar
to you, we produce large amounts of this type of waste.

Of course things are a bit different here in Australia, but if you have
received responses regarding this topic, could you please let me know?
If you have implemented other things in the cleanroom to make your
workplace a bit more sustainable, would you mind sharing some ideas? I have
been thinking for a while that we should join a group of cleanroom (or
other manufacturing) facilities who have all embraced (or are trying to) a
sustainable approach, if such a group exists, if it doesn't we should start
one!

Thanks in advance,

Tatiana

*Tatiana Pinedo Rivera*, PhD
Nanolithography and Characterisation Team Leader
Senior Process Engineer

Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication
ANFF Victoria
151 Wellington Road, Clayton VIC 3168 Australia

P: +61 (0)3 9905 9660
E: tatiana.pinedo at nanomelbourne.com
W: http://nanomelbourne.com




On Tue, 11 Jan 2022 at 09:23, Rachel Schoeppner <rlschoeppner at ucsb.edu>
wrote:

> Good Afternoon and Happy Monday!
>
>
> I am looking into developing a recycling program for uncontaminated
> disposable gloves that my facility goes through in abundant quantities,
> with the eventual goal of expanding to similar labs on campus. It has
> become glaringly obvious that our facility, and ones like ours, use a vast
> number of gloves that just end up in a landfill to decompose over the
> course of many years to decades. I am hoping to start working to divert
> this waste stream and recycle as many gloves as we can by starting a
> disposable glove recycling program here at UCSB.
>
>
> So as I am starting to gather data and more information about the best way
> to go about this, I was wondering if any of your labs have looked into
> similar initiatives that have been or are currently successful. If so, I
> would be very interested to know how these programs were started, what
> companies you might go through for the recycling since most public
> recycling centers do not process these types of plastics, and any ideas for
> how to make the program financially viable (break-even, not turn a profit)
> rather than a drain on resources, which could lead to the eventual failure of
> the program.
>
>
> Thanks so much for your time!
>
>
> All the best,
>
>
> Rachel
>
> —
>
> *Rachel Schoeppner, Ph.D*
>
> Nanostructure Cleanroom Facility Manager
> California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI)
> University of California, Santa Barbara
> rlschoeppner at ucsb.edu
> rachel at cnsi.ucsb.edu
> (805)893-2296
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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