General Waste: We're sorting it!
Did you know - that almost everything you put in a black/general waste bin on campus will be recycled or reused in some way? Find out how . . .
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What exactly happens to everything that goes into the general waste bin? To learn more about the dirty MRF and for pictures of the facility in action as it sorts University waste into useful products, click the image to see Premier Waste’s exclusive presentation about the contents of your office bin!
Recycling is now, quite rightly, a routine part of most staff and student’s lives. Many people therefore feel pained when using university bins, because at first glance, there seems to only be one choice; blue bin for paper/card and the general waste bin for everything else.
Does this really mean that most of what a typical university department produces goes to landfill? The good news for all recycling-minded people across campus is that nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, over 81% of the University’s general waste is now recycled or recovered at a Dirty MRF (Materials Recovery Facility).
How does the Dirty MRF achieve this 81% recycling/recovery rate for the University’s waste?
To summarise:
• All of the University´s general waste is sent to a local "dirty MRF"- Materials Recovery Facility- to be sorted.
• The dirty MRF currently achieves an 81% recycling rate, and this rate is improving all the time.
• The materials currently being recycled at the MRF include:
o Plastics (such as bottles and packaging)
o Metals (such as tins and cans)
o Glass
o Wood
• The two main waste types which are not currently recycled are sprung furniture (matresses)and large amounts of food waste from catering outlets (your lunchtime teabags and apple cores are fine).
It's important to note that, if you can find a recycling bin, it's still better to use it, as it results in a higher quality product. What the Dirty MRF system does well is to make sure that, when you can't find the right bin, your waste will not slip through the recycling net.
So, if you like to recycle but you can't avoid putting that plastic bottle in the general waste bin, don't worry - we're sorting it!