Submitted by Grainne Kennedy on Mon, 2016-08-22 16:19
Since early July, the University’s waste has been going to a facility run by our new waste contractors Mick George. Spotlight on Waste month offered the opportunity to visit their facility and see first-hand what happens to the University’s waste.
Feeling invincible in our steel-capped boots, hard hats, safety glasses and face masks, we braved the dust and noise to take a tour of Mick George’s recently renovated Mechanical Recovery Facility (MRF). The MRF sorts the different waste items according to size, density and material. Large pieces of stone, wood and metal are removed first to be recycled into aggregates, biofuels and new products. Several magnets and jets of air then remove smaller items of metal, plastic and paper which will be sent onto specialist recycling companies. Although the technology at the new MRF is state-of-the-art, manual sorting still forms an integral part of the process.
Mick George’s staff work hard to accurately separate different types of waste and are proud of their ‘zero waste to landfill’ solution, but it becomes more difficult to separate waste when it is contaminated. Good recycling practices at the point of disposal are key to reducing contamination. University staff in their offices, kitchens and labs can make all the difference by putting waste in the correct bins. The need to reduce contamination is one of the main reasons why the University has introduced a new food waste collection service. Separating different waste streams will maintain the quality of valuable paper, plastic and metal which can be recycled into good quality new products rather than using virgin materials.
With lots of insights into the recycling process the trip certainly wasn’t a ‘waste’ of time, and we’re sure that the Environment and Energy Coordinators present will be keen to ‘recycle’ everything they have learnt!