A time of change in waste and recycling

This year has definitely been a year of action when it comes to waste. Last week there was the announcement of an EU ban on single-use plastics, with the UK consulting on similar legislation. Meanwhile many members of the public have engaged by looking at their own plastic use: from using refillable bottles and Keepcups through to cutting down on their use of plastic bags and drinking straws.

There is one more change that happened late last year which captured fewer headlines, but could drastically change things when it comes to waste, and that is China’s decision to no longer accept wastes with a contamination of greater than 0.5%. But how does a country half a world away affect how we handle waste in the UK?

In recent years the UK has managed to increase its recycling rate to a modest but nonetheless impressive 64%. The amount of waste we recycle has increased six-fold, but the volume of waste that is actually processed by companies in the UK has remained the same since 2002. Countries like China, Thailand and Malaysia have taken the majority of our waste for recycling.

China imported at least half of the world’s paper and plastic of varying quality, to meet high resource demands. However with a growing problem of contamination, the country has decided to cut down drastically on waste imports, a policy followed by Thailand and soon Malaysia.

Contamination in recycling can take place in one of three ways:

1. Non-recyclable items being put into a bin (e.g. crisp packets, nappies, rubble).

2. A non-targeted material being put into the bin (e.g. glass in a plastics collection).

3. A targeted material contaminated with an unwanted item (e.g. plastics with food on them, liquids in bottles).

It is yet to be seen how these changes will impact our recycling in the University, but what it is clear that a surplus in supply of recyclable materials will mean a need to reduce the amount of contamination in our bins. This document from the National Resource Consortium outlines some of the problems the national waste sector is facing and how waste contractors are responding.

Here are a few tips on what you can do in your department to reduce contamination:

1. Educate yourself on what should go in which bin. Be aware that what you can recycle at home may be different to what you can recycle in the University.

2. Help others understand what goes in which bins by labelling, and ensuring that bins are located in convenient places. Avoid desk bins in favour of communal bins or bin stations.

3. Avoid contaminating your waste with food. Organise a separate food waste collection for your department.

4. Use refillable drinks containers and coffee cups when you can.

You can find out more about where the University’s waste goes here.