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How to organise a recycling scheme

Many institutions will have had some experience of recycling, with various levels of success. Although it is unlikely that you will make lots of money from recycling FHE waste, it can help divert substantial volumes of material from landfill and it should cut your waste management costs by a significant figure.

There are two main methods of collecting materials for recycling:

Unsorted

This is the easiest method of recycling. Your mixed waste is collected by the waste contractor and taken to an MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) where the recoverable elements such as paper, cans and plastics are separated. The advantage of this system is that you are not normally required to separate your recyclables at source and store them separately prior to uplift by your contractor. However, due to the costs of separation and reduction of quality from contamination, you are unlikely to receive payment for recyclables from the contractor. MRFs are still not common and normally restricted to urban areas, but more are being planned as an economical facility to help meet recycling targets. The negative aspect of this system is that staff and student awareness of waste issues is not reinforced, as they do not have to make an effort to be careful with their use and disposal of resources.

Segregated

Material for recycling is separated out by individuals throwing away their waste (segregation at source). This has the benefit of encouraging staff and students to be aware of how much they use and throw away, although careless segregation by individuals can lead to contamination problems. It is extremely useful in raising general environmental awareness as, in many cases, it is the only visible difference that individuals can make. This system is also more time efficient for caretaking or cleaning staff as they will not have to sort the waste manually. Types of materials suitable for sorting include office paper, toner cartridges, drinks cans and bottles, as well as cardboard and wood.

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