Lab Program FAQs

About us

The goal of our program is to help Yale university meet, and expand on, its sustainability goals.

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Beyond Us

STEP (Student Taskforce for Environmental Partnership)

Yale Sustainability

YSEC (Yale Student Environmental Coalition)

Labs currently participating: Caplan, Fahmy, Krause, Levene, Lin, Qiu, Saltzman, Shulman, and State.

Q: What is a recycling lab?

A recycling lab is a lab whose members have formally committed to recycling. Included in the lab recycling package are:
- A short presentation with info about recycling specifically for labs
- Recycling stickers for your lab
- A recycling contract
- Refreshments
- A personal recycling liaison
- Entrance to a yearly recycling lab drawing for a lab pizza party

Q: How can my lab become a recycling lab?

Contact the Head of Yale Recycling, C.J. May, either by e-mail or by telephone (203.432.6852).

Q: Can reagent bottles be recycled?

No.

Q: Can lab glass be recycled?

No.

Q: Can plastic pipette tips be recycled?

No.

Q: Can pipette tip boxes be recycled?

Yes, in the Cans & Bottles recycling.

Q: Can aluminum foil from lab (covering beaker) be recycled?

Yes.

Q: What happens to solvents?

All solvents currently are bulked into 55-gallon drums and sent off-site for disposal through incineration. The incineration process is used to fuel cement kilns in the production of cement. A few departments in the medical school have purchased their own solvent recycling systems and can recycle ethanol and xylene for reuse.

Q: How can I download recycling posters?

Visit our Posters & Fliers page.