Gloves
Social Issues relating to nitrile glove making
How much are we using?
Source: Margma
Back in the day, a scientist got one pair of gloves for their whole career. They’d boil them to sterilize, and mend them when they ripped. Today, the University Safe Lab guide suggests changing gloves every half-hour, and in Green Your Lab’s study the average use time was 12 minutes.
Reduce
Most research in the past was done successfully without gloves.
- Can your work be done safely without gloves
Gloves come in various thicknesses. Choose the thinnest gloves appropriate for your task
- A thinner version may be just as safe for your purposes.
- Choose thinner gloves if you expect to change them frequently, and thicker gloves if reusing.
- Some people spraying them down with 70% ethanol
You can purchase reusable biohazard gloves that can be washed and autoclaved: Biohazard-Handschuhe autoclav. bis 230°C klein | neoChoice
Reuse
Can you reuse gloves between experiments?
- Thicker gloves are easier to reuse but are made of more plastic. Have the right balance.
Taking off disposable gloves in a way that makes them easy to put back on:
I always first take one off, pulling the palm out to create an air pocket so I can get my hand out while keeping the glove right side out. Inevitably the glove fingers pull in, but rather than take the glove off finger by finger to keep them in place, I just use my still-gloved hand to grip the base of the free glove, and then close my hand in an ordered fashion, such that first the hole is sealed, and then the small amount of air trapped in the glove is squeezed. This serves to reinflate the fingers, and the glove is ready to be put back on. I can then take the second glove off and leave the fingers deflated - when I put the gloves back on, I reach into the second glove with just my fingertips to grab/pull on the first glove, and then I reinflate the second glove in the same way as the first before putting it back on.
This is a complicated little ballet, but it arose from years of struggling to get fingers into the right finger holes, etc. You can also blow into the glove to capture an air pocket, but with COVID one has to adapt. 
More sterile this way, I suppose."
Recycle
There are a handful of glove recyclers. Some may take contaminated gloves, but most restrict to only uncontaminated items.
Usually, uncontaminated means:
- Not used in a BSL3 lab and not used with a BSL2 agent
- No contact with radioactive materials
- Not used with acutely toxic materials
- Not stained with hazardous chemicals and not used to clean up a hazardous chemical spill.
Terracycle
Will take any brand of gloves.
Operational in:
- UK
- Canada (used at McGill University)
- Australia
- New Zealand
Not Operational in:
- Germany
(Terracycle at McGill University)
Medline
KimTech’s RightCycle
They only take back Kimtech gloves.
Operational in:
AppCycle
Biodegradable Gloves
Latex gloves - Apparently they can go in the compost (but takes 5 years) or in an AD. Of course, check if they are 100% latex and be sensible when it comes to chemical and biological contamination.
- Careful! These are only biodegradable in anaerobic accelerated landfill conditions. These are not normal composting systems. Most municipalities don’t have this. GYL has tried contacting some suppliers, but can’t get a straigh answers about the time, temperature and conditions for degredation.
VWR
https://globusgroup.com/products/showa/6110pf#.XjZb7sBlDYU
Do Something Different
Make Grape Soda flavour from Vinyl gloves:
Masks
Reduce
The Canadian government purchased 7-layer cloth masks for all of their staff. They gave each employee 3 and expected them to wash them at home.
Biocompostable hemp (100% vegetal) masks. It’s been approved by the French Army.
During the 2020 Corona virus pandemic, researcher and healthcare workers were asked not to use unnecessary PPE due to shortages. Many organizations found that their total PPE consumption was lowered, because “optional” PPE usage exceeded that of “neccessary” PPE usage.
HelloMask - plastic that’s made from 99% biomass. Transparent, but expensive.
Reuse
De Man et al.PDF (224.0 KB) studied the sterilization of FFP2 masks.
They sterilized single use FFP2 masks (type 1862+ 3MTM) with a 15-minute procedure at 121 ⁰C, using a dry sterilization process as well as with a regular steam process with the masks in impermeable sterilization/laminate bag. Investigators were unable to distinguish (visually, through pressure/flow/particle tests and bacterial passage tests) unused new masks from reprocessed sterilized masks. They noted deformation of the elastic, which can be easily replaced before reuse.
Silicone N95 Masks
Revolution Zero - https://www.revolution-zero.com/
Recycle
Unless a specific mask recycling process has been set up, mask should be disposed of in closed waste bins, preferably at your own home. They should not be put in the recycling.
Recycling of muti-layer surgical Masks:
Terracycle - US
Tadebe, but only ThermoFisher brand - UK
AppCycle
Plaxtil - France
Vitacore - Canada
Shayya - India
Eco-Eclectic Technologies - India
Companies still in the works:
-
FATERSMART (Diaper recycling plant in Germany. Green Your Lab is currently in discussions with with them about setting up mask recycling).
-
Fraunhofer institute is suggesting a pyrolytic process to transform them into fuel
-
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - turns masks into ashphalt
Thermal Compaction Group - i.e. Sterimelt - sells machines that melt masks and other PPE into blocks. Being trialed in UK hospitals.
Precious Plastics - DIY guide to setting up your own mini plastic recycling facility. You could melt down your plastic and turn them into other useful lab items such as test tube stands or 3D printer filaments.
- They also have a map of their community. Maybe there’s a little mom-and-pop operation near you whom you can partner with to take your lab plastics.
Washable PPE
MEDU - Mexico, Can be washed up to 50x
Note about compost!
Compostable equipment is something that we consider to be a simple step to take to start a green lab journey, however, an important note to remember is: when throwing away these items is to make sure you are putting the item in the right bin! By throwing away compost items in the wrong bin it can ruin a batch and it will no longer be able to be composted.
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