Recycle disposable gloves!

At Spontex we believe that when we launch disposable products we must give them a second life and find them a new purpose… which is why we have partnered up with the recycling experts at TerraCycle® to launch the new Spontex Disposable Gloves Recycling scheme.

So why do we need disposable gloves?

Disposable gloves are worn to protect hands. Sometimes they are used to protect sensitive skin but typically hygiene is the key reason, they are used as a barrier to avoid contact with nasty substances when carrying out those unpleasant tasks that unfortunately need to be done! They are often used for one off dirty jobs like cleaning up after our beloved pets, preparing smelly food like fish or onions (nobody wants those smells on their hands), painting, beauty regimes like dying our hair or applying fake tan (we won’t tell anyone it’s not 100% natural... promise ;)) as well as other general cleaning tasks.

How exactly does the recycling scheme work?

It’s pretty simple actually… the disposable gloves are collected by programme participants across the UK and sent to TerraCycle® to be recycled. Public drop off locations are communal collection points where anyone can take their used disposable gloves, you can find your nearest drop off point here. Don’t have one nearby? No problem, why not set one up yourself? At your local shop, community centre or school, just fill in the form on this page. Or you can send your gloves directly from home as a private collector, just sign up to the scheme here.

But what happens next? Let’s find out…

What do the clever people at TerraCycle® do?

The gloves that are accepted in the programme are made from 4 different materials – vinyl, latex, nitrile and cast polyethylene – so the TerraCycle® Research and Development team had to first find a way to separate and recycle these materials that has not previously been patented. The team headed up by Ernie Simpson in the US, then developed an innovative and unique recycling technique for the gloves.

The gloves will be sterilized using a specific process. Once sterilized, the gloves go through a process called cryomilling in which they are cooled or chilled and then ground down into a fine powder. This powder can be used to make a variety of different products such as flooring tiles, athletics fields and tracks, padding etc.

For this recycling technique a large amount of waste is needed; that’s why the gloves will first be checked into TerraCycle®’s warehouse in Lancashire where they are aggregated and bailed with similar materials. They will be stored here until they have collected a sizable quantity, at which point they will send them off to be recycled at one of their partner recycling facilities in the UK or in Europe.

Why have we chosen to recycle gloves?

The most common misconception about why items like disposable gloves aren’t accepted by council recycling schemes is because the recycling process is particularly difficult or technical. However, whilst it can be tricky to sort and separate different materials, in reality it all comes down to economics. This means that the main obstacle preventing these items being recycled regularly is that the value of the end material is less than the cost it takes to collect and process them. In simple terms – it just doesn’t make economic sense. TerraCycle® believe that the whole idea of ‘waste’ should be eliminated, and materials that would normally be disposed of are in fact viewed as a precious resource.

Moreover, by using recycled material to make new products, we are reducing the need to extract virgin materials. In this way we are working towards a more circular economy in which waste is given a second life rather than being sent to landfill or incinerated.

This is why we have partnered with TerraCycle® to cover the costs of this recycling in order to do our bit for the environment. We understand that we need to change the way we think about single use disposable gloves, and you can help divert this type of waste from incineration and landfill by joining the The Spontex® Disposable Gloves Recycling Scheme today: https://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-GB/brigades/spontex.