Recycling

MIT has several recycling programs for various lab plastics, packaging, and so on. The up to date Facilities information site should be checked for details.

Currently, we recycle the following items in the following ways:

• Cardboard: break down the box and place it in/near a blue recycling bin, especially the one in the atrium.

• Hard plastics #1, #2, #5: place in a blue recycling bin.

• Pipette tip boxes and conical racks: place in the specific pipette tip/rack collection box. We schedule pickups through this Quickbase link. This box goes to a local startup who recycles these.

• Styrofoam: Leave clean coolers/boxes/lids made of Styrofoam next to a blue recycling bin. Bag Styrofoam into clear plastic bags for pickup.

• Film plastic: Collect film plastics (e.g., palette wrap, the plastic around filter tips) into the labeled cardboard box in main TC, not into the standard blue recycling bins. The blue recycling bins go to the single-stream recycling provider, and films can gum up those machines. We can move our film to the plastic bag recycling in the basement room (66-017).

We do not recycle the following:

• Anything bio- or chemically-contaminated

• Gloves, even if they are clean.