SP0315: Styrofoam Recycling at the Lady Davis Institute

We hope to institute styrofoam recycling at the Lady Davis Institute (LDI), given the large amount of styrofoam waste which is thrown in the garbage from research laboratories and the environmental impact of this waste. Individual laboratories will only need to put styrofoam waste outside of their rooms once or twice every week, depending on their need. Then at least two Green Labs Initiative (GLI) members, who will take turns with rotations occurring weekly, or volunteers will collect the polystyrene and store it in large bags in the sub-basement of the LDI, at a location we have gained permission to use for this purpose.

Once we have nearly filled that space, we will contact the recyclers (Group Gagnon) and arrange a pickup. Each pickup will have a flat cost, with additional fees applied per bag being transported. On the day of the pickup, at least one GLI member, selected on a rotating basis, will bring the bags outside to be loaded.

Group Gagnon is a Quebec-based company that has been diverting polystyrene from landfills since 2017. They will condense and pulverize the material and then repurpose it in one of several ways, for example by building street furniture. In addition to this, we hope to raise awareness about this issue, while also promoting the new recycling program in order to make this a part of the regular recycling mandates of the LDI for future years.