ChopValue: Chopstick Recycling Program | Hospitality & Ancillary Services

Located in the Davis Food Court and IB Court!

What is the Chopstick Recycling Program all About?

Turn your chopsticks from waste to resource!

Check out the new chopstick recycling program on campus located in the William G. Davis building and Instructional Centre and make an impact by reducing waste! We (Hospitality & Ancillary Services) are proud to introduce this new sustainability initiative and bring something new to our community to decrease emissions while protecting our environment.

What is ChopValue?

ChopValue gives single‑use chopsticks a second life where, instead of ending up in landfills, your chopsticks are collected through their recycling program and transformed into lasting, eco‑friendly products like cutting boards, furniture, and décor, without needing to cut down a single tree!

Common Questions

How it works
ChopValue's impact
Why it's important
From single-use chopsticks to...
Learn more about the ChopValue program & partners

How it Works

The recycling process is simple, and you're a key part of it!

Many businesses tend to use a linear business method, where they extract the natural resources, they need to make the finished product and then it is disposed in landfills. However, by extracting these 'waste' resources, ChopValue is able to create a circular economy business model, where waste is eliminated by re-using materials and making better use of natural resources, preventing resources going in landfills.

ChopValue is able to create a circular economy by:

1. Collect

The first step is simple: after eating your meal, throw your used chopsticks in our 'chopsticks only recycling' bins that can be found in the William G. Davis building and IB Court. ChopValue collects these single-use chopsticks every week and recycles them to prevent them from ending up in landfills.

Person picking up a bag of chopsticks and about to transport them.

2. Manufacture

Once the chopsticks are collected, they are transported to a local micro factory to minimize the environmental footprint. In these micro factories, they are first sorted into batches and filed into a single orientation, then pressed using heat and pressure to transform the chopsticks into a durable material.

Chopsticks being in a single orientation before they are transformed into durable material

3. Made into products

After the chopsticks are transformed into durable wood, skilled woodworkers remanufacture the wood into a wide range of engineered products that are built to last and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Products include desks and seating, signage, wall paneling, office and kitchen accessories, and many more!

Woodworker using machinery to cut a board of chopsticks to make a final product

The Impact

ChopValue has recycled over 200 million chopsticks globally
ChopValue has diverted over 600,000 kg of waste from landfills
ChopValue has saved over 11 million kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by recycling and transforming single use chopsticks
EVERY SET OF CHOPSTICKS YOU RECYCLE MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

Why it's Important

The world uses 80 billion disposable chopsticks every year; that's 1.5 billion chopsticks per week.

These single-use utensils travel over 9000 km for the purpose of a 20 minute meal
ChopValue has addressed this problem by giving these chopsticks a second life to decrease our environmental impact and use our resources more efficiently
By disposing of your chopsticks in to a ChopValue bin, you're helping reduce landfill waste and supporting a greener and more sustainable world.