A Partnership in Protective Equipment Recycling
Sustainable Carolina is working with partners across campus to reduce waste going to the landfill. The latest program to launch is a limited-time recycling initiative for disposable face masks. Student Government and UNC Green Labs worked with Sustainable Carolina to design the program that went live on November 8th, 2021.
Look for these boxes at the Student Union, the Student Recreation Center, Lenoir Hall, the Genome Sciences Building, the Kenan Flagler Business School, and outside the Beach Café in Brinkhous-Bullitt. Once full with approximately 2,100 masks, the box will be returned to TerraCycle® using the pre-paid shipping label that is pre-affixed to each box. TerraCycle®, a company that is working to eliminate the idea of waste, handles the processing and recycling of all returned materials. The returned masks are pulverized and used to fabricate reusable shipping pallets, park benches, picnic tables, and Adirondack chairs.
Student government volunteers will monitor the boxes for fullness, contamination, and general tidiness. Departmental staff in the selected buildings will ship the boxes back to TerraCycle®. Please forward any questions to maskrecycling@unc.edu.