Wipe Out Waste - Pilot Office Recycling Program

Over the summer 2012, four buildings on the North Terrace Campus have undergone a waste management transformation in an effort to increase recycling and reduce waste to landfill.

New recycling stations have been installed at key locations (including an organic recycling service) and other bins rationalised.

Almost 700 staff in these buildings have kicked their under-desk landfill bins and replaced them with a paper recycling box. Read more about the Kick ya Bin initiative.

The Wipe Out Waste program is designed to trial a new recycling systems, rationalise existing facilities and to provide clear, consistent signage across all buildings.

Target: Divert 20 tonnes of waste from landfill in the next 12 months from these buildings (collectively). 

Why?

As the landfill levy (50% of the levy paid by waste depots to the EPA) continues to rise, the cost of sending waste to landfill will continue to increase significantly as this cost is past on to customers. In June 2011 the landfill levy increased from $26 per tonne to $35 per tonne. In 2012 prices are foreshadowed to go up again to around $50 per tonne. Recycling waste is much more cost effective and comes with huge environmental and social benefits such as;

• Reusing and remanufacturing resources instead of mining for new ones. This leaves resources for generations to come.
• Recycled materials can often be remanufactured using less energy for example; Recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than the raw ingredients for new glass, which can cut energy use by 25%. Recycling aluminium reduces greenhouse gases, saves tonnes of coal that would be needed to generate the electricity and uses less fuel to transport the materials. Recycled steel cans saves 75% of the energy it takes to make steel from raw materials like iron ore and coal. 
• A great feeling for knowing that you are doing your bit to reuse earths resources for future generations, save money and reduce the impact our University has on the environment!

Kitchen recycling stations (photo of Darling Building kitchen)

Busy corridor recycling station (photo of Benham corridor)

Bathrooms (photo of Mawson bathroom)

The Audit Process

We started by auditing general waste from these buildings during a teaching week in August 2011 to find out what was being sent to landfill and how much of it.

The process wasn’t pretty, but as you can see from the photos below we weighed and sorted the waste going to landfill from each building.

• We found on average 49% of waste going to landfill could be recycled.
• Approximately 53 tonnes of waste was sent to landfill each year, just from these buildings alone - that’s equivalent to the weight of 12 full grown African elephants.
• We found recyclables such as paper towel, white paper, magazines, food waste and plastics in landfill bins most commonly.

We collected all bins being sent to landfill and audited the contents.

We sorted the contents of the bin (with tongs and gloves).

We weighed the various types of recyclable material including cartons, plastics, food waste, cans, bottles and paper towel - so much paper towel!

FAQ

Where do I put items like batteries or CDs for e-Recycling?
Ask your School Manager where a collection point is in your building. If there has not been one created, talk to your School Manager about a good place for it and reuse a cardboard box to collect items. Contact Ecoversity to arrange signage for your new e-Recycling collection point. For bulky items, please contact the care takers. Find out about the next collection event and e-Recycling in general here.

Magazines and newspapers are listed under both yellow and blue streams, which bin should I put them in?
In the first instance these should be placed in the blue paper/recycling bin as they can be turned into a higher grade recycled product. If they go into the yellow recycling bin, they still will be recycled but made into lesser quality items. 

Can envelopes with windows and glossy paper be recycled?
Yes they can, in the blue paper/cardboard recycling bin.

Can I recycle plastic food containers?
Yes the yellow recycling bin, however food must be removed beforehand. This can be done easily by putting scraps into the organics bin and/or rinsing the container quickly.

What happens when the wrong items are placed in recycling bins?
If enough of the wrong items go into a recycling bin the whole bin is considered contaminated, and is sent to landfill. This is very disappointing for everyone else that has recycled correctly.

What should I do if I see someone put something in the wrong bin?
Approach them in a friendly fashion and let them know which bin is correct. If enough of us do this then contamination will be a rare occurrence.

What should I do with polystyrene?
Polystyrene is a light weight plastic often used in bulky packaging. Currently we don’t have a polystyrene recycling service and suggest that suppliers take this packaging away with them when delivering goods. For smaller polystyrene items such as food trays, these go in the red landfill bin.

If you have any queries or feedback please email Ecoversity.