When the Venetian Resort on the Las Vegas Strip reopened in June, it made face masks easily accessible. It placed amenity kits with disposable masks in rooms daily. It offered masks at doors around the property. Employees receive fresh masks at the start of their shifts. But over the past six weeks, that has resulted in a lot of discarded masks. So far, 644 pounds of single-use masks would have gone to the landfill unless the resort could figure out a different solution.
“We took it up as a challenge and we wanted to find a means to dispose of the masks in a sustainable manner,” said Pranav Jampani, executive director of sustainability for the Venetian Resort Las Vegas. Jampani’s team contacted several recycling companies but it was difficult to find a place that would take them. Single-use masks are not easily recycled. Along with the health implications, the masks are made up of multiple materials. This makes them hard to recycle.
After calls to several vendors, the Venetian finally found one up to the task. The hotel is partnering with TerraCycle to pilot one of the first large-scale personal protective equipment recycling programs in the hospitality industry. “Traditionally, masks cannot go in the bin. They are not municipally recyclable. And that really goes for any type of PPE or safety equipment,” said Dylan Layfield, senior manager of material solutions for TerraCycle.