Recycling can be challenging when you’re a student. Whether you’re in halls or a shared house, you’re living with lots of other people. Your fellow students may not be as mindful of the importance of recycling as you are, and may take some persuading to do it properly. You’re moving house each year, potentially with different rules in each household. And to top it off, the materials accepted for recycling and the bins and collection arrangements could be very different from those back home.
Despite these challenges, it’s still very possible to be environmentally friendly as a student, so keep reading for our tips on how to make recycling work when you’re at uni!
Why recycling is important
You probably don’t need us to tell you why recycling is important, but let’s quickly recap the main reasons. Recycling reduces our need for more expensive ways of getting rid of rubbish.
But it’s also about keeping materials in use, reducing the need for raw materials, which create significant air and water pollution when they’re mined, quarried, logged, refined and processed. The result: when we recycle, we save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help fight climate change.
When you’re at university, you’re surrounded by thousands or even tens of thousands of other people. When that many people collectively do their bit with recycling, that adds up to a big difference! For example, Oxford University has around 24,000 students and over 13,600 members of staff, and between them they recycle over 50 tonnes of waste a month, including food waste.
Tips for recycling at University
Recycling facilities vary across the country, so when you arrive at university, you’ll need to find out what your new local council does and doesn’t accept in your recycling collection.
If you’re in halls, it’s best to check your university’s own guidance on what happens with recycling, as it’s likely that there are communal facilities (check whether you can recycle food waste while you’re at it). If you’re living in a shared house or flat, your best bet is to put your new postcode into our Recycling Locator to find out what you can put in your kerbside recycling collection. It will also tell you where your nearest recycling centre is.
When you first arrive at university, you’ll probably find you have lots of packaging to get rid of from all your new things. Bedding, stationery, kitchen equipment – all are likely to have cardboard and plastic packaging. Cardboard is straightforward enough, but you may be wondering what to do with plastic wrapping, such as the stuff your new bedding came in. You can collect all this and take it to be recycled at your nearest participating supermarket’s front-of-store collection – again, the Recycling Locator is the place to find your local scheme.
On a day-to-day basis, food packaging is likely to be your biggest consideration when it comes to recycling. In halls, you’ll have communal recycling facilities, but if you’re in a shared house you may need to implement a system yourself – labelled bins for different materials, for example.
Remember, takeaway packaging can be recycled too! Pizza boxes can usually be recycled, as long as you remove those uneaten crusts first. Plastic takeaway tubs and foil trays can both be washed out and used again or recycled. Inedible or unwanted food waste, such as egg shells and lettuce bottoms, can go in your food waste caddy, if you have one. Our friends at Love Food Hate Waste have lots of tips for making sure you make the most of your food first so that you throw away less in the first place.
There are lots more opportunities for recycling when you’re out and about on campus. Those screwed up bits of paper from lecture notes you no longer need can be recycled, as can plastic water bottles you’ve taken with you to stay hydrated. Used printer cartridges can often be sent back to the manufacturer, donated to charity (believe it or not!) or sent to a scheme such as Recycle4Charity or The Recycling Factory to donate them for you.
If you’re hitting the gym or going to a lecture, the chances are you’re taking snacks with you. The wrappers from protein bars, breakfast bars, crisps and sweets can all be saved and recycled along with your plastic bags at the front-of-store collection at your nearest participating supermarket.
To make sure your recycling efforts pay off, it’s also vital to ensure you avoid contaminating your recycling bins, as this can prevent a whole lorry-load of material from being recycled. Preventing contamination is all about making sure you put the right things in the right bins, and making sure that any food residue is rinsed off packaging before it goes in the recycling. Have a read of our tips on reducing recycling contamination and be sure to let your housemates know about it, too!
Keeping campus clean and sustainable
If you’re serious about being environmentally friendly, you might be looking for other ways to be a more sustainable student. Here are a few final tips:
Use beeswax instead of cling film to wrap sandwiches or save leftovers in the fridge.
Choose reusable boxes for leftovers and lunch on the go, rather than plastic bags or foil.
Opt for reusable water bottles and coffee cups when you’re out and about – paper coffee cups aren’t always that easy to recycle, so it’s best to opt for a reusable coffee cup. Some coffee shops offer discounts for using these – result!
Snack on leftovers – check out our friends at Love Food Hate Waste for some great lunchbox leftover snacks.
Finally, if you’ve got into some great recycling habits at university, remember to take them home at the end of term so your family can pick up some top tips too!
