Prairie Research Institute Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

Nitrile Glove Recycling

Client

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Sector

Higher Education

Location

Champaign-Urbana, IL

Services

Fostering Sustainable Behavior, Implementation Assistance, Stakeholder Engagement

Background

The Technical Assistance Program (TAP) conducted a waste audit of ISTC headquarters on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus in February 2013. The waste audit results showed that single-use non-hazardous gloves made up 13% of the ISTC waste stream at the time. The Zero Waste Illinois team explored multiple options to reduce and recycle the single-use non-hazardous gloves. Kimberly-Clark, a company that manufactures nitrile gloves, takes back its gloves to recycle into park benches, bike racks, etc., through its RightCycle program. ISTC piloted the RightCycle program throughout its labs.

Subsequent Illinois campus waste characterization studies revealed that single-use, non-hazardous gloves were a significant component of the waste stream at other campus locations. Thus, we explored expanding the nitrile glove recycling program to other campus locations.

Approach

After successfully integrating the glove recycling project within ISTC labs, the Zero Waste Illinois team explored expanding the program to University Housing dining operations, with funding from the U of I Student Sustainability Committee. The dining hall at Ikenberry Commons was selected as the pilot facility for University Housing’s glove recycling program. After several meetings with stakeholders in University Housing Dining Services, the team identified collection as the critical step in the process. The team determined that installing a collection bin to hang off existing trash bins would be a simple, inexpensive way to encourage proper separation of used nitrile gloves for recycling. Because no suitable commercial collection unit was available, we presented two custom-designed options to the dining hall. Created using Inventor, a 3D design program, one option was a 3D-printed plastic piece designed to latch onto the side of existing Brute trash containers while securely cradling a small recycling container for the gloves. The other option involved screwing two hooks through the side of a small recycling bin and then using the hooks to hang the recycling bin from a trash container. Although the plastic piece was more creative and designed by a U of I student in a U of I lab, it was more expensive to roll out. Therefore, the university implemented the hook design across all dining operations.

Results

In 2020, this program diverted over 7,000 lbs. of gloves. Based on this pilot project, the university explored expansion of the glove recycling program at other campus locations. See https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/glove-recycling for status updates.

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