Submitted by Peter Lumb on Thu, 2020-09-03 11:35
This September sees the arrival of both Zero Waste Week and Recycle Week, so what better time to announce our new easy-to-use waste guidance for University departments? It's all about cutting out waste, reusing more internally, and recycling what's left. Our simple guide is based on several years of internal research and includes clear case studies to demonstrate how effective waste-related changes can be made across the University.
The guidance forms part of the University of Cambridge’s new Waste Strategy, approved in 2019, which aims to improve performance on waste across the organisation. While the University has reported waste-related successes in recent years, for instance a cut in landfilled waste to just 13% of historic levels and significant drops in waste produced per head of student and staff, there is still much more that can be done to reduce the nearly 5,000 tonnes of waste produced by the University every year, and boost the recycling rate of just over 50%. That’s where this guidance comes in.
There are three sections, each of which includes a simple checklist that you can use to review your department or building’s performance:
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Waste reduction guidance. Eliminating and reducing waste at source is a big focus of the University’s Waste Strategy. This guidance includes simple ideas for cutting the waste you and your colleagues produce, including 20 examples of initiatives successfully trialled across the University to reduce the resources we use. |
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Waste reuse guidance. While we can reduce the waste we produce, it’s also important to avoid disposing of anything until we’ve got the most from it. This guidance page includes suggestions for keeping items in use longer as well as eight simple suggestions for reusing resources within the University. |
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Recycling guidance. There are inevitably some resources which do need to be ‘thrown away’, but the key here is making sure it’s disposed of in a way that will ensure that valuable materials can be recovered into new products. Much of this is down to awareness and understanding of recycling procedures by staff and students. In this guidance we set out what you can do to boost recycling rates, including seven best practice principles for your waste bins! |
September is not only a great month to look at recycling thanks to the national events taking place, but it’s also an opportunity to get things in order before the new academic year starts and as more activities resume post-lockdown. Be sure to share this guidance with your colleagues, speak to others about how you can bring in some of these simple changes, and finally, remember to let us know if you adopt any of the tips and actions from this guidance.