Cardboard, paper, books, newspapers – we want them!

The University over the last couple of years has been relying on teams to segregate cardboard from our dry mixed recycling waste so we can send this separately to our supplier and it doesn’t clog up our large waste bins.

Previously all the cardboard we collected from Campus was placed in our white dry mixed recycling bins as you can imagine the bins filled up pretty quickly especially if the boxes were not flattened, this incurred costs as we were paying for bins of fresh air to be collected.

With this in mind we introduced 2 cardboard only skips on Campus and encourages teams such as SU shop, cleaners, Campus Support Officer, Schools and Departments to ensure cardboard was flattened and put into the cardboard only skips instead of the white dry mixed recycling bins.

This was successful and last year we collected over 26,000kg of cardboard in these 2 skips alone. Our waste contractor Suez supported the University on this initiative and provided one of the skips for free and the other we just paid haulage but this was still at a cost to the University. We are also aware that dry mixed recycling bins are still being used for cardboard disposal.

With this in mind we have looked at other initiatives for the collection of cardboard which will reduce costs to the University and encourage other streams of recycling. Sonoco a paper mill in Greetland have offered to supply the University with a skip for cardboard, paper, books, newspapers and journals, once this skip is full it will be collected and the waste weighed in and the University will receive a payback – in a nutshell we get paid for our waste!

Obviously we want to try and reduce the amount of waste we dispose of but in the meantime if we can introduce additional streams of recycling and dispose of it locally with an income back into the University its only good news!

So we are asking you all to support us in ensuring at least your cardboard is flattened and stored separately to your other waste , we will have several cages up and down Campus for cardboard to be stored within, these areas include all the waste compounds and the skip will be located to the rear of T5. We will also be introducing other streams of paper waste in areas such as photocopying areas, library areas and if you think you can contribute please let us know.

Within the Campus Support team, Liz Cutts will be working with teams within departments and schools to ensure that the message for the disposal of items is filtered through and providing support and education – she will also be checking the bins so beware!

If you have any comments or can help in anyway please contact Allan Butters.