Single-use face mask recycling

Please note that as of September 2022 this scheme has been discontinued

Since the pandemic we have seen necessary increases in some plastic usage across the Estate in order to protect our staff and students and those recently returning to campus are being encouraged to continue to wear face masks.

In line with the University’s commitment to eliminating avoidable single-use plastic, we would in the first instance encourage staff and students to wear a re-useable fabric face mask which can be kept and used repeatedly.

However, in the instances where single use face masks are used, rather than send unnecessary plastics for disposal, the University has set up single-use face mask recycling collection points across the campus, in partnership with ReWorked

There are now single-use facemask recycling bins in all academic buildings on main campus, usually at the entrances/exit points. These are emptied by staff in House Services and the masks are then collected by ReWorked and will be repurposed in to Stormboards which are durable plastic boards for use in construction, shopfitting, joinery and so on.

For more information, on the Reworked recycling process see here