Charlottesville Lab Waste Collection
Do you work in a lab in Charlottesville, VA that uses pipette tip boxes made from #5 plastic? If so... we would love to work with you! We are currently working with 30+ labs in Charlottesville to collect these pipette boxes, and now that we have our processing operations down... we want more! Keep reading to learn about how easy - and impactful(!) working with us could be!
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We are JunkLabz, a non-profit startup specializing in plastic recycling. Unlike current recycling collection centers in Charlottesville, we complete the entire process in house! We clean, shred, melt, and transform plastic waste into small plastic tiles, and larger furniture pieces made entirely from recycled plastic! 100% of the plastic waste we use currenly comes from our 30+ lab partners in Cville. To date we have collected over 900 lbs of plastic from these labs! The buildings/areas we currrently collect from at UVA include: Pinn Hall, Fontaine Research Park, MR4, MR5, MR6, West Complex, and Gilmer Hall.
WHY PIPETTE TIP BOXES (AND PIPETTE TIP BOXES ONLY)?
We specialize in the pipette tip boxes we collect from research labs because of their:
Monotype (#5)
Plastic
Clean, Sterile Material
Uniform Size and Shape
A Variety of Colors
These characteristice help us to streamline our process as we develop and grow into a larger scale recycling facility, eventually expanding our collection. Also, there are currently no facilities in Charlottesville, VA that collect or recycle #5 plastic, we are the only one!
WHAT WORKING WITH US LOOKS LIKE...
01.
After onboarding you are connected with a JunkLabz point of contact who will contact you about pick-ups and is available to answer any questions you may have​
02.
Your lab is given a personalized pipette tip box pickup bag (additional bags available upon request) to collect/store the pipette tip boxes in your lab
03.
Collection scheduling is set up so you can email us when your assigned bin is filled. We will then schedule a time and pickup location to grab the plastic
04.
We track plastic collection from your lab! (How much plastic weight we have collected from your lab +the weight of plastic successfully diverted)​
05.
We offer tours of our space (including a full overview of our process) to anyone interested in learning more about how recycling works at JunkLabz
![IMG_6148[37470].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b7636d_64929981e0ab432598e948a8d8269529~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_0,y_456,w_1536,h_1040/fill/w_239,h_162,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_6148%5B37470%5D_JPG.jpg)
![IMG_1104[37478].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b7636d_2b7d416498a843eb905b94d16887b653~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_0,y_0,w_1613,h_1080/fill/w_245,h_164,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_1104%5B37478%5D_JPG.jpg)
![IMG_1114[37482].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b7636d_b6d4a527f40b4b38bf50680fc1583fad~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_172,y_0,w_1448,h_1080/fill/w_219,h_163,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_1114%5B37482%5D_JPG.jpg)
![IMG_1102[37476].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b7636d_9bf5b298b9184f738406268c0b8d1ba7~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_246,h_164,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_1102%5B37476%5D_JPG.jpg)
Seems pretty cool right! Post the initial onboarding, all you and your lab need to do is store the used pipette tip boxes, let us know you have them, and then hand them off to us at pickup time! Then, watch your positive impact increase through our data tracking system as we recycle more and more of your plastic waste.
If you are interested… we ask that you fill out the following interest form below. Once
it is submitted one of our team members will be in touch!
COLLECTION FAQS!
What Pipette tip boxes do we accept/not accept?
Currently, JunkLabz only collects #5 plastic pipette tip boxes! This is the first thing you should check for. Make sure every component of the box has a recycle triangle with the number 5 in or beside it (some examples shown to the right!). A few #7 plastic pipette tip boxes have slipped into our collection boxes over the past few months and ufortunately we can't do anything with these AND it slows down our process setting them aside (Some examples of these are also shown to the right!)! Another thing to look for on your boxes is stickers! It is common for some brands of pipette tip bixes to have large labeles on the lids, and some labs use stickers to labale their pipette tip boxes. Stickers are no good for our shredder and it takes our sorters quite a long time to remove them when we have hundreds of boxes to sort through, so ask your researchers to please remove any stickers before setting the boxes aside for us if possible :)
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#5? yes!
#7? no!
When should labs reach out about collection? What does a "full box/bag" look like?
It takes quite a bit of coordination for our Junklbaz collectors to travel to labs for collection, so we want to ensure there is a pretty large amount for them to collect, to therefor limit the amount of trips! With that being said, air on the side of larger loads! A full JunkLabz collection bag + a box is a great amount. Full box and bag examples are shown to the left! And keep in mind it takes collectors on average 2-3 days to come to the lab for collection :)
How should labs contact us that that they are ready for pick up?
When you are ready for collection, we ask that you reach out to junklabz@gmail.com and send us your name, lab location, and any other important information such as where to find the boxes/bags of plastic! We have access to all of the hospital buildings so as long as your lab is unlocked we can slip in and out with meeting with anyone that is part of the lab!