How to recycle your Monarch^® Kit components

John DeMartino:

Thanks for choosing the Monarch kits from New England Biolabs. The Monarch kits were designed with sustainability in mind not only were we able to reduce the total amount of plastic in the kits by over 30%, but we also made every effort to make sure all of the kit components are recyclable.

Here are some suggestions for recycling the box and the kit components. Whenever possible we suggest reusing the box because reusing the box is preferable to recycling. However if you choose not to reuse the box here are some suggestions for how to recycle it.

The kit box was designed to collapse flat by pulling up on the inner flags and the inserts also collapsed to make it easier to fit in your recycling bin. There's no need to be concerned about the magnets in the box as they are removed as part of the recycling process and this is similar to the way staples and other fasteners are removed when recycling paper products.

The protocol cards can be used in your laboratory notebook or recycled along with the other paper components. The protocol cards are coated for durability but the coding was carefully chosen its biodegradable and also compatible with papers recycling stream.

When designing the Monarch kits we chose buffer bottles that are lighter weight and recyclable. If your facility does not offer single-stream recycling, you'll want to separate the bottle from the cap. The Monarch buffer bottles are made from HDPE and compatible with any recycling that is marked with recycling symbol #2. The caps on the other hand are made from polypropylene and they should be placed in containers marked with recycling symbol #5

The bags containing the columns in the kits are made from LDPE and should be placing containers labeled #4 which is where other bags like grocery bags and other thin film plastics are normally placed. Again, the label on the bag does not need to be removed.

The columns and receiver tubes are made from thin wall polypropylene and can be placed in containers labeled with the symbol #5. However, please refer to institutions policy for the disposal of hazardous waste. The resin in the columns does not affect recyclability.

For your convenience all of the recycling instructions are printed on the inside of the box.