Spotlight on Waste month - how you can participate

We create waste every day, but how often do we really think about its impact and how we can do better? As a University, we create a vast amount of waste, but we are tackling this issue. In order to make real change on this issue, the involvement of staff and students is vital. Spotlight on Waste month, this November, is an invitation to everyone at the University of Cambridge to look at waste in their building and identify resource efficient ways to source and dispose of materials. Initiatives such as WarpIt, the Equipment Sharing Project and Unigreenscheme are great ways to reduce the amount of waste we produce, but there is also a need for staff and students to think about what they buy along with considering how those items are used and disposed of.

There are many ways you can do this, start by downloading our Spotlight on Waste month guide for tips and advice.

Meanwhile the Environment and Energy section’s focus for the month will be on four topics throughout the month:

Week 1 (5 – 9 November) – Record

As the adage goes “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”, and week 1 of Spotlight on Waste month is all about gaining an understanding of waste issues where we work. You can contact the Environment and Energy section to receive the recycling rates for your building, or gain extra insight by carrying out a waste audit to find out what the problem wastes are. An understanding of the challenge will help your building to target the most appropriate solutions, be they in reducing, reusing, upcycling or recycling waste.

Week 2 (12 – 16 November) – Reduce

One of our waste goals under the University’s Environmental Vision, Policy and Strategy is to achieve continuous year-on-year reductions in waste arising per full time equivalent staff and students. In 2017/18 we did see a reduction in waste arising from our operational estate, 16%, but we need to go much further. Clever management of resources is not just good for the University finances but it also means that we have less waste to dispose of.

Over this week, can you set a challenge for you and your colleagues to go plastic or paper-free? When it comes to plastic bottles, you can eliminate that waste by using a refillable option and the same applies for coffee cups. Could you hold a stationary amnesty? A simple stationary amnesty in the Judge Business School recently allowed for the redistribution of 15 crates of stationary to thankful new homes in the building. The final and most important thing that can be done in this week, is to have conversations with those who procure in your teams to see if there is a way items could be shared or if there is an excess of one item purchased that could be avoided, or if reusable, refillable or recyclable items could be preferred.

Outside of the University, there are also a number of events looking at waste in November. The biggest of these is the Sustainable Fashion Event on 17 November. Go along to learn about the environmental impact of fashion waste, have your clothes repaired and hear about the innovations that will help you to avoid wasting clothing.

Week 3 (19 – 23 November) – Reuse

The University has a two schemes that help staff to reuse every-day and specialist equipment that are no longer needed in departments; WarpIT and the Equipment Sharing Project. WarpIt will be particularly busy over the month, to help staff get familiar with the system we will place goodies on the site to claim and those who post or claim an item during the month will be entered into a prize draw. WarpIt is now also open to partner organisations. If you know of a charity who reuses waste materials to raise money, let us know and we will add them to our system. You can publicise WarpIt in your department with these posters.

If you cannot find someone to share equipment with, another option is the UniGreen Scheme. This scheme takes old equipment, refurbishes it and sells it to other research organisations.

On 21 November and 23 November we are going to get crafty with waste reuse. On lunchtime 21 November we have a trip to the Scrapstore for any staff who would like to learn more about the Cambridge City Council initiative. Cambridge Scrapstor take unusual waste streams and make them available as craft materials for the general public. On Black Friday, 23 November, University staff and students are invited to 17 Mill Lane to create something new from waste in our Upcycling Workshop rather than buying new. 

Week 4 (26 – 30) – Upcycle/Recycle

The University’s recycling rate has been rising over the last few years but each week 6 tonnes of recyclable waste goes into the general waste bin, or the weight of an elephant! By educating ourselves on what goes into which bin we can reduce this figure. Take some time to tour your department; is the signage on the bin up to date (see images below)? And do your colleagues feel confident that they know what goes where?

Perhaps, a recycling challenge might help. If you would like the Environment and Energy section to run a waste roadshow in your department, please fill in our doodle poll.

We would love to hear what works for your department during the month. Tag us in your photos on Instagram @CambridgeSust, on Twitter @Cambridgesust and on Facebook @CUEnvironment.