This year's European Week for Waste Reduction runs from November 16 to 24. This is an opportunity to highlight the Institut Pasteur's efforts to recycle all the waste that it possibly can. It goes far above and beyond the minimum required by law, even recycling some pens and laboratory equipment.
Under French law, companies are required to dispose separately of paper/cardboard, metal, plastic, glass packaging, organic waste from restaurants, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and wood so that it can be recycled at accredited recycling centers. But the Institut Pasteur wanted to take things further. "In the space of ten years, we have introduced recycling for many other products, including batteries, used ink and toner cartridges, polystyrene and pens and markers," explains Abokouo Zago, Head of the Institut Pasteur's Waste Management and Recycling Department (GVED, in French). "We have signed agreements with producer responsibility organizations to ensure each of these materials is reused or recycled. We also recover clean cardboard packaging for reuse on campus."
* The GVED Department is part of the Department of Corporate Social Responsability and Technical Resources.
Around 30 people dedicated to waste management
All this has a cost and requires staff. Around 30 employees in the department are already involved in these efforts. But for the Institut Pasteur, this investment is paramount as the current environmental crises cannot be overlooked. Moreover, "having worked in a laboratory myself for ten years as a biological engineer, I am familiar with the types of waste produced in research labs: tip boxes, 96-well plates, WEEE (e.g. centrifuges, incubators) etc. That’s why we are working to introduce new streams to optimize processing of this waste," adds Abokouo Zago.
The next aim is to sort and collect cigarette butts, coffee pods and biodegradable cups so that they can be recycled too. "Our goal is to reduce the volume of household and similar waste as much as possible." Although incinerating household waste contributes to the urban heating network and produces electricity, it is better to reuse or recycle where possible to reduce pressure on natural resources. This also addresses a societal need: social and solidarity economy (SSE) businesses play a key role in the waste recovery and recycling sector.
Organic food waste volumes reduced by 80%
The GVED Department is responsible for the traceability of each waste stream and for monitoring any regulatory changes. It keeps up to date with new innovations that might help optimize waste management. For example, when the Institut Pasteur introduced a separate waste stream for organic waste to produce biogas and fertilizers via anaerobic digestion, it invested in waste dryers to extract moisture, thereby reducing the volume by 80% and lessening the storage space needed. This also cut the number of trips made by waste collection trucks, keeping noise down for local residents and reducing our carbon footprint. Outlets were also found for polystyrene, which can be used to produce insulating materials, and for pens and markers, which can be turned into garden furniture.
In 2019, a Reuse room has been launched, where employees can drop off and pick up office and laboratory supplies in good condition that have been provided by other teams. After all, the best way to manage waste is not to produce it in the first place.
What do we mean by "non-hazardous" waste?
Non-hazardous waste is any waste that does not have dangerous properties. At the Institut Pasteur, 1,013 tons were collected and sent to recovery plants in 2023:
- 734 t. of household waste
- 147 t. of waste from construction dumpsters
- 110 t. of paper and cardboard
- 13 t. of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
- 13 t. of polypropylene (tip boxes)
- 4,05 t. of glass packaging
- 2,7 t. of dried organic waste (13.5 t. before drying)
- 1 t. of plastic bottles
- 0,5 t. of aluminum (cans)
- 0,214 t of batteries
- 0,548 t. of used ink and toner cartridges
- 0,407 t. of light bulbs (fluorescent tubes, LED bulbs, etc.)
- 0,04 t. of pens, markers, highlighters and corrector pens