In a drive to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, the University of Brighton has appointed DS Smith Recycling to develop a sustainable approach to its waste management processes.
DS Smith Recycling will handle the waste generated across the University's estate of 30 sites through its Croydon recycling facility. The contract covers a diverse estate, including the faculty buildings, halls of residence and student union bars used by 23,000 students and 2,600 staff.
To build upon the University's existing recycling rate of 25 per cent, DS Smith Recycling is introducing a series of new initiatives and training sessions to rapidly improve this figure. These initiatives include separate food waste collections, identifying a recycling facility for used cooking oil and segregating wood waste produced by the Architecture and Art departments. More specific and occasional waste streams will be collected on an ad hoc basis including WEEE, hazardous and confidential waste.
Tim Bretherick, assistant director of estates at Brighton University, comments: "We are focused on improving our environmental performance across our activities and recycling more and landfilling less is an important starting point. DS Smith Recycling was the obvious partner to help us deliver our objectives as it sees landfill only as a last resort. With its expertise, we should be able to make an important difference to the amount of waste the university produces and find more sustainable outlets for the majority of materials."
An added benefit of DS Smith Recycling's service is the detailed reports on the amount of mixed dry recycling and general waste produced each month on a site by site basis. This is facilitated by the bin weighing technology that enables the weight of each bin load to be captured.
Tim Price, national commercial manager at DS Smith Recycling, adds: "Finding alternative and more sustainable disposal options to landfill is an important business driver as this process helps to save money, in terms of landfill taxes, and reduces carbon footprint and environmental impact. We're delighted to be supporting the University of Brighton in initiating new processes to help greater quantities be recycled into new products and materials. Crucial to this is in buy-in with the estates team, staff and students to make sustainable waste management an integrated part of everyday operations. We are providing support and training for this where appropriate."
DS Smith Recycling has already identified a number of opportunities where collections can be reduced helping to save costs and minimise environmental impact.