A: No. Only plastic that has been in contact with biological material needs to be autoclaved before recycling. Although this is energy intensive, this plastic would need to be autoclaved before being disposed of anyway. The only extra step is sorting it out before autoclaving.

A: No. If the plastic has been used with any toxic or hazardous material, it needs to be disposed of with toxic waste. Most labs should have a separate disposal setup for this regardless of whether or not recycling is being done in the lab. If in doubt, always consult with your lab safety officer.

A: We have confirmed that PP and HDPE that is collected and recycled through Stoepsel Sammeln is broken down and used to make new plastic at a facility in Carinthia, Austria (PreZero). Therefore, this plastic is not burned or sent abroad. The fate of plastic disposed of through the City of Vienna is more ambiguous; we cannot say what the exact fate of this plastic is.

A: Ideally plastic should not exceed the size of 10 cm x 10 cm. However, we have not had any problems with plastic that slightly exceeds this (i.e. tip boxes).

A: In the case of simple solutions and salt buffers, an extra cleaning of the plastic is not necessary. For some plastics (i.e. PET (plastic water bottles)), the plastic needs to be very clean without any residues. However, most lab plastic is made of PP and HDPE.  This plastic goes through a washing process at the recycling plant. Therefore, it is ok if the plastic still contains some non-hazardous residue.

A: In our experience with Stoepsel Sammeln, this has not been a problem and the plastic can still be taken to be recycled.

A: Yes. Remaining protein or cell debris pellets should be briefly rinsed out of the eppendorf tube. Cell pellets should be autoclaved if necessary and then rinsed out of the eppendorf tubes.

A: Yes. Liquid should be poured out of all plastic containers before being recycled. It is not necessary for the plastic to be 100% dry, but no appreciable amount of liquid should be left and tubes should be recycled while open to let any remaining liquid evaporate.

A: No. The rubber ends of the syringe plungers would be removed before recycling the plastic plunger.

A: In our experience, none of the lab materials that we can recycle are made from PET. All of our materials are made from PP or HDPE. Moreover, only PET bottles are recycled in Austria while other PET items are incinerated. Therefore, unless you are dealing with a PET bottle (municipal plastic containers), PET items should be disposed of in the residual waste.

A: Yes. The labels can be downloaded from the Green Labs Austria website. The labels are currently showing the separation of materials based on our experience with the Schleper, Rittmann, and Bulgheresi Groups at the University of Vienna. We strongly encourage you to check your own materials before separating your plastic. Editable files can also be supplied to tailor the figures to your own needs. We only ask that the Green Labs Austria label is left visible on the labels.

A: Recycling companies pay to acquire different types of plastic (i.e. PP and HDPE). The value of the different types of plastic can be substantially different and the quality of the output plastics highly depends on the degree of plastic type purity, which is why they need to be pre-sorted. If one tip gets placed in the wrong container, this would not be detrimental. However, care should be taken to keep the plastics correctly sorted as much as possible.

A: Filter tips can be recycled if the processing includes a density separation step. This is the case for the current facility we use for recycling. When being processed, the shredded plastic waste typically goes through a step that separates materials based on density, thereby removing contaminants. Because of this, filters from the tips will be removed.

A: We currently recommend getting in contact with Stoepsel Sammeln for recycling plastic. The website can be found at http://www.stoepsel-sammeln.at/ with the contact information at the bottom of the page. Once in contact with the company, you can set up a time for them to pick up the plastic to be recycled.