New Year brings recycling changes
Published: 20 December 2013
The way the University collects, sorts and recycles its waste is changing. Scottish Government legislation now requires all organisations and businesses to separate recyclable materials and general waste.
The way the University collects, sorts and recycles its waste is changing as we enter the new year. This is because the Scottish Government’s Waste (Scotland) Regulations require all businesses to separate recyclable materials and general waste from the start of 2014. Our University catering outlets must also segregate food waste for separate collection. You will soon see new waste recycling bins being placed across the campuses.
DRY MIXED RECYCLING bins are for dry, mixed recycling waste. This includes paper, empty cans, plastic bottles and containers and card/cardboard.
GENERAL WASTE bins are for waste which includes glass, polystyrene, contaminated paper hand towels and tissues and general, non-recyclable packaging. If we are successful in our recycling, very little will have to go in the black bins.
FOOD WASTE bins are for food waste in areas operated by Hospitality Services: FOOD, cafeterias, restaurants and coffee bars.
Waste from food that is prepared by individuals in their offices for their own consumption such as tea bags, coffee grounds and fruit peelings, will go to GENERAL WASTE bins.
Estates and Buildings say they want to keep the process, and the information to go with it, as simple as possible. The University is a big place with a large student and staff population. It will take time to standardise all the bins on campus to the basic DRY MIXED RECYCLING and GENERAL WASTE.
The collection and disposal of DRY MIXED RECYCLING and GENERAL WASTE is the responsibility of Estates and Buildings. Any inquiries about waste recycling should be directed to the Estates and Buildings Helpdesk: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/estates/
The existing arrangements to dispose of specialist waste, for instance from laboratories, will continue to operate as will the arrangement for the separate collection and disposal of waste electrical and electronics including fridges, computing and lab equipment.
Scotland is aiming to be a zero waste society. Disposing of the contents of GENERAL WASTE bins is not only becoming increasingly expensive, but also increasingly unacceptable from an environment perspective. Efficient recycling will save the University £29 per tonne and significantly reduce the carbon emissions associated with our waste disposal. Please help us to make this new system work.
There is a lot more information available here: www.glasgow.ac.uk/recycling
First published: 20 December 2013
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