Laboratory Glove Recycling Initiative 

Do you want to reduce your lab's plastic waste? Do you use gloves while handling non-hazardous material? 

Giving gloves a Second Life: A campus-Wide Recycling Initiative 

In an effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated by scientific laboratories on campus, CNSI, with support from The Green Initiative Fund, has developed a program to divert our uncontaminated glove waste from landfill to specialized recycling centers. These gloves are then transformed into new products, giving the plastic a second life. 

Over the past three years, this program has successfully diverted over 4,600 lbs of plastic- all from uncontaminated nitrile glove- away from landfills. What started as a pilot has expanded to 43 labs across 12 departments, and we're just getting started. 

We are still looking ahead and hoping to reach even more labs and on-campus operations, further increasing the amount of recyclable glove waste and contributing to the university's zero waste targets. 

Instead of spending centuries in a landfill, your gloves can be processed and repurposed- reducing our community's reliance on virgin materials and minimizing plastic pollution. Join us in making science more sustainable. 

 Program Operation:

• Each participating lab is given a specific, marked receptacle to collect uncontaminated and powder-free nitrile gloves. 
• ONLY gloves are allowed in this recycling stream.
• “Uncontaminated” material can include light contamination from non-toxic chemicals as long as they are rinsed and dried prior to disposal.
• DO NOT include any gloves that are considered biohazardous or hazardous waste, dispose of these correctly through EH&S hazardous waste pickup.
• Every other month an email will be sent around asking that you leave the recycling bin outside the lab for collection.
• All recycled gloves will be consolidated at CNSI and shipped to the PolyCarbin distribution center in Northern California

Unacceptable Materials

• Latex and Vinyl Gloves, Trash, Pipet tips, Glass, Kimwipes, Tape, Paper Towels
• Gloves that come in contact with:
  • hazardous waste
  • pathological or surgical waste
  • infectious waste
  • viral waste
  • spore-forming bacteria waste
  • human or animal tissue waste
  • fecal, urine, or saliva

 Want to Get Involved?

VOLUNTEER! Join the student group that is in charge of spreading the word about the program, onboarding new labs, and running the bimonthly glove pickup. 

PARTICIPATE! Labs can join and participate in collecting gloves. 

DONATE! As the program grows, new sources of funding and support are needed. We happily accept donations to help the smaller labs with limited resources!

 Join our Glove Recycling Advocates!

Aidan Keough, Kaili Mikami, and Lauren Buyalos, undergraduate students in the 2024–2025 Environmental Leadership Incubator (ELI) cohort, are the leaders behind FLOW: Facilitating Lab Optimization and Waste. Through lab assessments and outreach, they helped expand the Laboratory Glove Recycling Initiative across various departments, notably bringing in UCSB’s largest undergraduate teaching lab course, the Introductory Biology Lab Series. FLOW promotes sustainable lab practices through infrastructure improvements and education to increase the recycling of clean, nonhazardous laboratory materials. 

FLOW is a collaborative effort with UCSB Facilities Management, UCSB Environmental Health & Safety,
TGIF, URCA, AS Recycling, and Art From Scrap.

"Rachel supported us when we were just getting started, and we were so excited each time we found a lab to join the program. It’s fulfilling to think about how many gloves we've helped divert from the landfill by increasing outreach and participation. Her work to get the Lab Glove Recycling Initiative up and running was a major catalyst for increasing sustainability in the lab space. We're also trying to fill those gaps and are inspired by her work."

"When we talk to researchers on campus about the Lab Glove Recycling Initiative, it's always a hit-- especially for labs who feel strongly about the environmental impact of their research. The program gives them a simple and tangible way to give their inevitable waste a second life. We can't wait to see the pounds of collected gloves keep climbing!" 

Participating Groups

• CNSI Quantum Structures Facility
• CNSI Confocal Microscopy & Spectroscopy Facility
• NSF Quantum Foundry
• CNSI Biological Nanostructures Laboratory
• CNSI X-ray Facility
• NSF BioPACIFIC MIP 
• CNSI Innovation Workshop
• CNSI Incubator Labs
• M-WET
• UCSB Microscopy Facility
• MRL TEMPO Facility
• Molecular Beam Epitaxy Facility
• Intro to Biology Teaching Lab
• Bren College of Environmental Sciences
• Rinker Teaching Lab
• Asbury Pathfinder Lab
• TEA Lab
• The Carlson Lab
• The Christopher Lab
• The Clement Research Group 
• The Dogic Lab
• The Incandela Lab
• The Lipshutz Lab
• The Mukherjee Lab
• The O’Malley Lab
• The Sakamoto Lab
• The Segalman Group
• The Thurber Lab
• The Weimbs Lab
• The Wilbanks Lab
• The Wilson Group
• The Valentine Lab
• The Zhu Lab

Financial Sponsors

• The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF)
• California NanosSystems Institute (CNSI)
• Materials Research Laboratory (MRL)
• Bren College of Environmental Sciences
• Bioengineering Department
• Chemical Engineering Department
• Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB)
• Earth Science Department
• Marine Science Institute
• Materials Department
• Mechanical Engineering
• Physics Department