Its size, built-in handle, snap-on lid and color that coordinates with the city's glass recycling program promoted the Tidy Cats cat litter bucket to the container of choice for the university's lab glass recycling initiative, now 12 years old. Photo by Christopher Gannon.
A student intern's idea to repurpose yellow cat litter buckets for a laboratory glass recycling pilot has endured for more than a decade. In fact, the project has expanded from its initial 10 campus buildings to "every lab where they recycle glass," said Jason Terry, an environmental engineer with environmental health and safety (EHS) who works on hazardous waste disposal in the estimated 1,800 labs across the university.
"They're part of all our lab training; we reference the 'yellow buckets' and people know what we're talking about," he said.
The use of Tidy Cats cat litter buckets for lab glass recycling began in February 2013 in response to a city of Ames request to the university to help it keep glass out of the Ames waste stream. Glass can damage the trash sorting equipment in the Ames Resource Recovery Plan and the boilers at the city power plant, where trash is burned as fuel to generate electricity.
In Iowa State's most recent annual tally (2022), the university recycled 17.5 tons of lab glass, according to recycling coordinator Steve Kohtz.
That clever intern suggested the Tidy Cats 35-pound square buckets because they were durable, came with a handle and snap-on lid, color-coordinated with the city's glass recycling bins on building docks and -- if the donation request caught on -- free. Printing services produces a large sticker with recycling instructions that goes on each bucket.
The plastic buckets have replaced a Fisher Scientific cardboard box, which was designed for glass recycling but susceptible to leaks and tears as it fills.
The pilot jump started with a 1,000-bucket donation from the parent company, Nestle Purina, to central Iowa animal shelters, who agreed to forward the containers to Iowa State when they were empty. Cat owning employees, alumni and Ames community members also have provided empty buckets from the very beginning.
Terry said the need for more buckets ebbs and flows. Currently, he has about 100 in storage, and the need isn't great. Buckets most commonly are needed when additional labs open, for example in a new building, or when a bucket (or lid) is cracked or contaminated by improper disposal of other lab waste and needs to be replaced.
Donations can go to EHS or director of sustainability Merry Rankin, 108 General Services Building. She said she receives 75-100 at her office every year and delivers them to the EH&S Building.
Rankin said she loves the participation piece of the lab glass recycling.
"Individuals may wonder 'how can I support a university initiative?' This is a perfect example."
While cat owners have learned the buckets are handy for lots of uses around the house, "at some point you probably have repurposed enough of them for your own needs," she said. "Purina helped us get started, but our community has really supported it and kept it going."
