New Recycling Bins at Greenwich Campus

The University of Greenwich is taking exciting steps in its plans to take the University towards the goal of ‘Zero to Landfill’. Soon you will notice that there will be new bins appearing across the Greenwich Campus for two different waste streams: Mixed Recyclables and Non recyclables.


The new bins have arrived so that you can take the waste that you generate at work to the nearest recycling bin and separate the waste accordingly. We expect that these bins are going to contribute to a significant increase in the amount of waste that is recycled at Greenwich Campus.

To further the project’s success we will eventually ‘bin the bin’. Case studies in many other universities have shown that by removing under desk bins while providing sufficient recycling bins as an alternative has been an effective way of reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. Bywaters, our current waste contractor expect a rise to between 80-90% recycling rates achieved by removal of the under desk bins. If we hit these rates of recycling it will be huge achievement and it will be largely thanks to staff cooperation and participation. That means you!

The recycling rate at the Greenwich Campus is currently a little less than 50% through the existing bin system (Dec 2009 – May 2010) by raising this we can start to see the University achieve significant savings. Landfill tax is currently at £48 per tonne and steadily rising, therefore reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill should bring substantial benefits for the University.