Waste Diversion

CU Anschutz strives to make collection of recyclable materials on campus unambiguous and convenient. The university tracks waste diversion rates and seeks to increase recycling volume through on-campus education, access to recycling bins, and building partnerships with key stakeholders. Specifically, we are looking to identify more recycling opportunities in campus labs, where research waste has historically proven to be a difficult waste stream to divert to recycling.

Reach out to [email protected]

Red Bins

Yellow Bins

Gray Bins

“Smaller than a thumbnail”

Used to collect solid waste that may be treated by an autoclave, followed by disposal in a public landfill. Follow the “Rule of Thumb”: Tissue, organs, tumor, bones, etc. to be placed in the bins must be smaller than a thumbnail.

Solid materials saturated in blood or bodily fluids
Undistinguishable human/animal tissue waste such as tissue, bone, skin, etc.
Undistinguishable pathological waste that has recombinant DNA/RNA, viral vectors, plasmids, or synthetic nucleic acids
Cell culture materials and wastes
Cultures and stocks of infectious agents
Sharps containers that are sealed closed
Contaminated materials from persons diagnosed with known or unknown disease

“Smaller than a thumbnail”

Used to collect solid waste containing trace chemotherapeutics or HIPAA protected information, that must be destroyed in an EPA-permitted medical waste incinerator. Follow the “Rule of Thumb”: Tissue, organs, tumor, bones, etc. to be placed in the bins must be smaller than a thumbnail.

Materials contaminated with chemotherapy drugs
Trace chemotherapy drug waste that is less than 3% by volume (greater volumes must be disposed of as hazardous chemical waste)
Items that have HIPAA-protected information that has not been crossed-out or effaced

“Larger than a thumbnail”

Used to collect solid waste that must be destroyed in an EPA-permitted medical waste incinerator. Follow the “Rule of Thumb”: Tissue, organs, tumor, bones, etc. to be placed in the bins must be larger than a thumbnail.

Recognizable pathological waste that includes recombinant DNA/RNA, viral vectors, plasmids, or synthetic nucleic acids (must be frozen and contained in sealed packaging)
Animal carcasses containing recombinant DNA/RNA, viral vectors, plasmids, synthetic nucleic acids, or infectious agents.

Note:

The red, yellow, gray and sharps bins are not for liquid waste.
Glass (broken or unbroken) and pipettes that could puncture a trash bag, must be placed in a cardboard box and sealed.
Placing items that should go in the landfill bins will cost your lab more money – Avoid putting non-hazardous waste in the red, yellow, gray or sharps bins.
Chemical waste is to be disposed of through the chemical waste disposal request process.

For more specific information, or if you have questions about RMW, please reach out to [email protected] and/or retake the Regulated Medical Waste Management training in Percipio.

Request a pick-up for recycling.

Submit a request through the EMS System here for your computers, monitors, projectors, printers, phones and other e-waste to be picked-up by the special disposals team.

Our team routes products and materials for recycling through our partners at Pedal Point Recycling. Learn more about their mission here.

Place in the compost.

Your food scraps can be placed in the compost including produce, peels, fish, dairy, shells, meat, and bones. Visit the campus map and click "Sustainability" to locate a compost bin near one of the on-campus eateries.

BPI certified plastic is also accepted in the compost bins. Be sure it has a certification label. Packaging that simply says "biodegradable", "compostable", and "made from plants" does not necessarily guarantee that the item can be composted. Learn more about BPI here.

Learn more about our composter here.

Plastics go in the trash or recycling. It depends!

Recyclable

Trash

Plastics numbered 1, 2, and 5
Leave screw caps on

Examples:

Clear beverage bottles
White or clear beverage gallon jugs
Clear clamshell take-out containers
Soap bottles

Plastics numbered 3, 4, 6 and 7
Black plastic of any number
Plastic smaller than 2 inches by 2 inches of any number
Bottle hand pumps

Examples:

Black plastic take-out containers
Styrofoam cups, plates or containers
Flexible plastic bags such as chip bags
Plastic wrap used for packaging
Plastic utensils
Pumps on soap bottles

Place in AARM recycling bin.

Due to its small size, shredded paper scraps cannot be accepted by traditional Material Recovery Facilities. The small slips fall through the machines and end up being sent to landfill. Because of this, the University partners with the local records managements company AARM for on-site confidential document shredding and recycling on campus. These bins are located throughout campus.

Programs offered through your supplier often “down-cycle” your materials. For example, collected gloves will be turned into park benches, chairs, flooring, etc. The gloves will not be recycled into new gloves.

Below is not an exhaustive list. Reach out to your vendor’s representative and inquire about their sustainability offerings.

Supplier	Accepted Materials
Polycarbin	Any brand of rigid plastics, pipet tip boxes, gloves, PPE
VWR, part of Avantor	Any brand of gloves, goggles, garments, masks, lightbulbs, batteries, aerosols
Kimberly Clark	Only KC brands of gloves, glasses, garments, masks, wipes
Fisher Scientific	Only Fisher brand pipet tip boxes
USA Scientific	Only USA Scientific brand pipet tip boxes
ScienceCycle, powered by TerraCycle	Any brand of PPE, rigid plastics, wipes, cleaning supplies

“Drop-off collection” exists for hard-to-recycle items. Many items that would go into the landfill via curbside collection streams can be alternatively recycled through the drop-off collection stream.

Location	Accepted Materials
On campus in the service hallway of the first floor of RC2	RightCycle collects non-hazardous nitrile gloves. Only accepts Kimtech and KleenGuard brands.
On campus at your local mail room	Blue Star Recyclers collects empty ink cartridges.
Off campus Sustainability Recycling	Accepted materials include flexible plastic film and Styrofoam. For the complete list of accepted materials, please visit their website.
Off campus Eco-Cycle CHaRM	Accepted materials include pipet tip boxes and Styrofoam. For the complete list of accepted materials, please visit their website.

Before requesting pick-up, try to give your items another life by offering them to staff and faculty on campus through the links below!

Join the Lab Equipment & Supplies Inventory by following these instructions
Join the Furniture & Equipment Swap Microsoft Teams

To dispose of equipment, including scientific machines and technology, you can submit a request via the EMS system.

Our team routes products and materials for recycling through our partners at Pedal Point Recycling. Learn more about their mission here.

Biological Hazardous Waste Guide (pdf)
Download Biological Hazardous Waste Guide (3061 KB)
Compost Guide (pdf)
Download Compost Guide (4778 KB)
Recycling Guide (pdf)
Download Recycling Guide (4637 KB)
Recycling Guide for Research Labs (pdf)
Download Recycling Guide for Research Labs (4326 KB)
Trash Guide (pdf)
Download Trash Guide (4572 KB)

Tools & Resources

CU Campuses

CU Anschutz

Sustainability

Facilities Management

Waste Diversion

Reach out to [email protected]

Put in the recycling.

Request a pick-up for recycling.

Place in the compost.

Give away to be reused.

Place in the trash or recycling. It depends!

Plastics go in the trash or recycling. It depends!

Place in AARM recycling bin.

Waste Diversion

Biological hazardous waste

Cardboard

E-waste

Food scraps

Furniture

Ink cartridges

Leftover food from events and meetings

Paper

Plastic

Shredded documents

Styrofoam