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Lab Waste

Labs typically produce a lot of waste, especially plastic. If this bothers you, you’re not alone! We regularly hear from lab staff who want to reduce waste. Here are opportunities to reduce waste in your lab.

Start With The Recycling and Reuse Guidelines for Labs

We also offer Packaging Waste Guidelines for reducing and recycling packaging waste. Highlights include:

  • Participate in the Lab Reuse program to rehome gently used surplus lab supplies
  • Share consumables with lab spaces near you to reduce incoming packaging waste
  • Order from core stores near you 
  • Take advantage of speciality recycling programs

Related Resources

Use this tool to look up how to place items in the correct bin. 

Hard to Recycle Items

Foam (coolers, foam blocks, and packing peanuts)

Pipet tip boxes

Metal chemical drums

Ice packs

Nitrile gloves

Small lab plastics

Soft plastics

Paper towel composting

Pens, pencils, and markers

Bottle caps

Foam (coolers, foam blocks, and packing peanuts)

Pipet Tip Boxes

  • Pipet tip boxes cannot be recycled in the standard U-M recycling stream. Instead, we partner with Fisher Scientific and a local recycler to recycle clean and uncontaminated pipette tip boxes. Collection boxes with a prepaid shipping label can be found at your dock. Please contact [email protected] to resupply collection boxes. 
  • Pipette tip boxes can be also recycled through Polycarbin, a closed-loop process. Their collection bins and tip boxes made from recycled materials can be purchased on M-Marketsite.
Pipette_tip_boxes

Metal chemical drums

  • Drums that contained solvents and other non-hazardous chemicals can be recycled in the regular U-M recycling bins, but they must be triple-rinsed and labeled as such, and defaced. 

Ice packs 

  • Unwanted ice packs that arrive with non-hazardous lab supplies can be rehomed through the Ice Pack Reuse Program. This program is open to labs that have participated in our Sustainable Lab Certification program. Please reach out to [email protected] if you are interested in donating packs or know of any potential recipients.

Nitrile gloves

  • Currently nitrile gloves cannot be recycled at U-M. Learn why and our recommended actions to use nitrile gloves more sustainably.

Small lab plastics 

  • U-M has partnered with Polycarbin to offer closed-loop recycling of small, clear lab plastics such as pipette tips, well plates, tubes, and filter units. This program is available to labs that have participated in the Sustainable Lab Certification Program. The products from this closed-loop recycling process, including pipette tips and centrifuge tubes, can also be purchased on M-Marketsite, providing an excellent opportunity to be part of the closed-loop experience! Learn more and request a bin today.

Soft plastics

  • Soft plastics (grocery bags, plastic film, bubble wrap, air bubbles, etc.) are not recyclable through a UM-sponsored program. Please do not place these in the single-stream recycling bins as they damage the sorting equipment at the recycling facility. If you are interested in recycling soft plastics, consider setting up a collection bin and dropping them off at your local grocery store, or purchasing a Terracycle box.

Paper towel composting

Pens, pencils, and markers

  • OCS partners with Terracycle to recycle pens, pencils, markers, and other writing utensils.

Bottle caps

  • OCS partners with Terracycle to recycle non-hazardous bottle caps.